Stuck In Her Nightmares
by seijuuros
Summary: Rachel's worst nightmares come true, and it is up to Nico to save her. Will true love conquer all, or will Rachel die in the hands of evil?
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Stuck In Her Nightmares

**Chapter:** 1 (approx. 1361 words)

**Rating:** K

**Characters/Pairings:** Nico di Angelo, Rachel Elizabeth Dare | Nico/Rachel

**Summary:** Rachel's worst nightmares come true, and it is up to Nico to save her. Will true love conquer all, or will Rachel die in the hands of evil?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Percy Jackson whoops

**Author's Notes:** ugh more detailed author's notes at the bottom

* * *

_Rachel was standing alone in a dark room. Whispered voices were swirling around her. She turned around and screamed the names of her friends. "PERCY! ANNABETH! NICO! LEO!" Someone had to save her now. Then shadows started to suffocate her. She started to struggle. Her claustrophobia got the better of her, and tears started flowing down her cheeks. When she lay down on the floor choking and crying, the shadows parted to let someone through. It was a man. He had a golden dagger in his right hand. He got closer with each step, and finally he lifted up his right hand, and he plunged the knife-_

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Rachel shot up straight in her bed, and clutched her bed sheets tightly. She had sweat on her face and neck, and the back of her blue tank top was soaked to the core. Her heart was pumping so quickly she felt like it was going to vibrate through her skin like The Flash could vibrate out of things binding him. She looked around her dark room, and lay back down again.

She had had that nightmare for ages, for many nights on end. It had been rather minor at first, only a short un-scary moment, before she would wake up. But recently it became more detailed. The nightmares got longer and longer, and the one she just had was one of the most detailed ones yet. Sometimes if she really was too exhausted she wouldn't have that nightmare, but that was only when she was lucky. She hadn't told anyone about it; she hadn't felt that it was that important. It only reflected her phobia of tight spaces right? It was perfectly normal to have nightmares like this. _No it's not, stop kidding yourself. No normal person dreams about being murdered by a man holding a dagger made of Imperial gold. _Rachel's subconscience chided.

Rachel groaned, closed her eyes and turned over, trying to fall asleep again. After ten minutes of tossing and turning around in bed, she sighed, and got up from the bed, going to her living room. She didn't feel like painting anything at the moment; she had no inspiration. She considered calling Annabeth, but she might be asleep. 3am in the morning probably wasn't a good time to wake anyone up.

She watched some television, switching between the many channels she was subscribed to, before settling on a channel showing an old movie from the 1900s, while using her laptop. She was about to switch it off and try to go back to bed, but she got a rather pleasant surprise from one of her friends (or rather best friend).

Nico was awake too.

Rachel smiled. Finally. Someone she could talk to. She and Nico had become best friends within the past few years the four of them (Percy, Annabeth, her and Nico) had spent together. Due to the fact that Percy and Annabeth were being mushy with each other during most of the time when they hung out together, Nico and Rachel had no choice. They were awkward with each other at first, but when they found out that they both liked the Beatles' music. They had truly bonded since then, and were inseparable.

She opened a video chat and lay down flat on her stomach while waiting for Nico to accept the request. She drummed her fingers on the couch, and when Nico's face appeared on the screen, she grinned. He looked a little disheveled, with some stubble on his face, and some tuffs of his black hair sticking out of his head in awkward directions, but otherwise he looked rather awake.

"Hey Dead Boy. Why are you still awake?"

Nico rubbed his eyes before answering. "I was up doing my college homework. I was about to sleep, then realised the amount of coffee I drank, and now I can't fall asleep."

"Oh."

"What about you though, Red? Miss me?" Nico, who now looked extremely tired after he switched on the light in his room, asked with a small smirk on his face.

Rachel laughed. "No, why would anyone stay up till 3am just for you, Dead Boy? I know I wouldn't. I couldn't sleep too."

"Why not?"

"I- I had a nightmare."

Nico chuckled. "A nightmare?"

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Yes, a nightmare. It's nothing. Anyway, I can't sleep and I don't know what to do now."

"Aren't you talking to me now? Isn't that already doing something?"

Rachel rolled her eyes again. "Well yeah, but you can't expect me to talk to you for the next three hours until dawn, right?"

"Well, why not?" Nico grinned. "I'm not that boring, am i?"

"Of course not. It's just that-"

"Oh come on Red. If you really want me to come over that badly, just say it."

"NO-"

"Say it!"

"NO I DON'T WANT YOU T-"

"Just say it!"

"Alright, FINE! Nico, will you please come over to accompany your best friend because she is lonely and needs her best friend there to do something with her at 3am in the morning?"

Nico laughed. "You should just have said so earlier, my dear. Be right there." Nico slammed his laptop screen down towards the keyboard, washed his face, and quickly put on a fresh shirt and a pair of jeans before shadow-travelling to Rachel's apartment.

He felt the familiar pull of the shadows around him, and before he knew it he was in Rachel's apartment. He looked around the dim room, and found Rachel in the kitchen digging through her refrigerator. He sneaked up behind her, and put his hands on Rachel's shoulders with a little force, causing her to scream and jump. Her head whipped around and then ice cream carton in her hand almost connected with Nico's head. He was lucky he ducked. It looked like it might have hurt.

"Whoa. Relax, Red, it's just me." Rachel visibly loosened up, taking a deep breath.

"Holy shit I got a fucking scare! Could you not do that in the future?" Rachel looked like she was about to murder Nico by throwing the ice cream carton at him.

Nico lifted his arms up as if to surrender and chuckled. "Alright, I'm sorry, Red, I won't do that ever again." He had witnessed what Rachel could do, especially the time when they were in the Labyrinth together with Percy and Annabeth. An ice cream carton may seem small and harmless, but when Rachel threw it at you, like she did to the Titan Kronos with a blue hairbrush, it became a lethal weapon.

He grinned impishly at Rachel, and Rachel couldn't help but to smile as well. He had that charm which no one else had. Nico grabbed two spoons, and walked back to the couch to join Rachel. It was their tradition, whenever they were at each other's homes with nothing to do, to share a carton of ice cream. This was the reason why the freezers in both Nico's and Rachel's homes were both stocked up with Ben and Jerry's Cookie Dough ice cream. That was another one of their common likings.

They sat in front of the television watching a movie, each scooping the ice cream and sticking it into their mouths. When the ice cream was finally finished, they sat there commentating about the movie.

"OH come on! He doesn't even deserve her! What kind of shit choice did she just make?"

"That lady is HOT."

"She is so going to regret this. I swear."

By this time Rachel had cuddled up to Nico, laying her head on his shoulder. It was absolutely normal for them; they had done it so many times before it had become routine for them. Rachel felt so comfortable next to Nico on the couch. _Mmm Nico smells nice. Wait, what? That was a weird thought. _Nico and Rachel sat together in comfortable silence, watching the movie, until Rachel heard snores coming from Nico.

He had fallen asleep.

Rachel took a deep breath, and tried to continue watching the movie so that she wouldn't have the nightmare again, but eventually she succumbed to the wiles of dreamland.

* * *

**A/N: THAT ENDING WAS SHIT but I've been suffering from writer's block lately, so this was the best I could do, sorry. D: but hey guys, I'm actually back. After many months of not updating it I'm back! Anyway I've deleted a few stories, mostly because I didn't have the time to update them, and also because of the fact that I've gotten bored of them and the lack of a plot. But this time things have changed, and as my exams are over and I have two months of holidays and I've actually planned out a legit plot I should be able to complete this story by the end of this year. I'll try my best. So yeah. I know that ending was shit, but reviews are highly appreciated, and also if there are any loose ends you want tied up or any clarification just feel free to review and write your inquiry there! I'll answer your questions in the next chapter I write. This story is dedicated to my friend Chels. She's amazing. Thanks bby for fangirling with me about all the PJO characters and shipping the same OTPs as me. I love you !**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Title:**__ Stuck In Her Nightmares_

**Chapter:** 2 (approx. 1600 words)

**Rating:** K

**Characters/Pairings:** Nico di Angelo, Rachel Elizabeth Dare | Nico/Rachel

**Summary:** Rachel's worst nightmares come true, and it is up to Nico to save her. Will true love conquer all, or will Rachel die in the hands of evil?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Percy Jackson yah D: sucks for me

**Author's Notes:** ugh more detailed author's notes at the bottom!

* * *

_Rachel was once again standing in the same dark room. She looked around. The shadows were closing in again. The walls were closing in as well._ Oh my god, it's happening again. _Rachel tried to run, but everywhere she went seemed to just be a black wall. She tried screaming, but this time she had no voice. The shadows started to suffocate her once more, and she was choking, tears flowing out of her eyes. The shadows surrounded her neck, and started squeezing._ She was about to die. No. _She felt herself trying to take a breath, and she felt herself choking even more. She was she was about to let go, she-_

Rachel jumped, and sprung up from her awkward position on the couch with Nico, and started panting, taking as many deep breaths as she could. _Holy shit. Okay, it was only a nightmare. Relax, Rachel, relax._Nico had woken up too, as he felt her jump.

"Hey Red, what happened?" He rubbed his half-closed eyes and turned to face Rachel. "Nightmare again?"

"Ye-Yeah. It's nothing, really."

Nico looked at her, his face worried and suspicious at the same time. "You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." She looked at the clock on the television console. 10a.m. She pushed herself off the couch, and walked towards the kitchen. "It's Sunday."

"And?"

"Apollo is coming today to 'check in' on me in two hours." She used her hands to gesture the inverted commas, rolling her eyes. "As if I need checking in."

Nico chuckled. "Well, then I better go now. I'll see you later."

He grabbed a piece of toast that Rachel had made, and clutched it between his teeth as he put on his jacket. He chewed some of it off, before shouting a quick 'bye!' and shadow travelling back to his apartment.

"Bye!" Rachel shouted back, before eating the toast she made as well. When she finished her toast, she sighed and walked into her bedroom to take a long bath to soak away the fatigue, before putting on a pair of skinny jeans and a black tank top with a checkered plaid shirt over it and a pair of pumps. After she combed through her red hair with a hairbrush, she walked out into the living room.

Where, naturally, Apollo had already arrived and was drinking a cup of coffee while sitting on the couch.

Rachel took a deep breath. For some reason Apollo always unnerved her a little. Sometimes she noticed him staring a little too intense at her, and then he would seem to realise he was making a mistake and would compose himself. If Rachel didn't know better, she would say that Apollo had a crush on her. But that wasn't possible. He wouldn't like her; he made that rule that she must remain a virgin as long as she was the Oracle.

Apollo turned around, and he smiled. "Ah, Rachel! My dear Oracle. How has life been?"

"Don't you spy on me?"

Apollo laughed. "Of course not. I respect my Oracle's privacy."

"Well okay. Are we going to be awkward like the last time we met or-" Rachel knew they shouldn't be awkward around each other, considering they were Apollo and the Oracle, but Rachel had always been awkward around the gods for some reason. Especially Apollo. Considering he could incinerate her whenever he wanted and all.

"Now, now, Rachel. In a hurry? Why don't we have something to eat? I brought food. We need to talk."

Meanwhile, Nico had received a rather unpleasant surprise when he arrived back home.

"Oh shit no I did not just get evicted."

"Oh yes you did." His landlord, Mr Lars, appeared behind him.

"But why?"

"You haven't paid your rent in 5 months!" _Oh crap. He had completely forgotten about that. Damn his procrastination._ "And your place is the ultimate shithole! I've given you too many chances, and I don't care; you're out."

"But-"

"No 'buts'. OUT. All your things out in an hour, or I'll make sure they are all disposed of." With that, he stomped away.

Nico groaned. "What a bastard," he mumbled. He jabbed his keys into the lock, and then began packing._Well he was right. It is a shithole._ His clothes were strewn everywhere, and rubbish was everywhere across the floor.

He grabbed a backpack, and another gigantic duffel bag he used for sports at his old school, and dumped all his clothes and belongings into the bags. He didn't have much; everything fit into the two bags. He spent half an hour trying to locate everything he had (due to all the rubbish), before sitting on the chair in front of the table with his laptop on it, and searched for another place to live in.

Fifteen minutes later and he was becoming desperate. "Oh great." His college dormitories were completely full (not to mention it required a monthly payment of 500 dollars, which he definitely didn't have), and every other place near his college was either too expensive, or was the size of a shoebox. The good places were too far away from his college. He didn't want to risk shadow-travelling there either; it might expose him. He had even called Percy and Annabeth, but their small flat was only enough for the son of Poseidon and the daughter of Athena.

He supposed that there was only one option left. He picked up his bags, and walked to the darkest part of the flat, before allowing the shadows to embrace him.

Apollo had brought steak and vintage wine. Classy. Rachel approved of the food choices he made, but she was a little suspicious. Apollo had never done this before; why had he suddenly made this movement to talk?

Apollo snapped his fingers, and all the food was nicely prepared on the table. Rachel picked up her fork and knife, and began to dig in. Halfway through chewing, Apollo spoke.

"So, Rachel."

"Yes?"

"I came here to talk to you about Nico."

Rachel's head snapped up. "What?"

"Nico di Angelo, the son of Hades."

"Yes I know it's that Nico, but why?" Rachel looked completely baffled. _What was going on?_

"Ah yes, you see, Nico and you seem… to have gotten a lot closer lately, and I'm here to, believe it or not, 'warn' you about the consequences of dating, in case you've forgotten. It's a necessary procedure, apparently, according to the other-"

"Wait a minute, hold up. Hold up. What's going on? Nico and I aren't dating; we're just good friends!"

"It sure doesn't seem that way to the other gods. They said that I would have to warn you about this. Make sure that Nico and you don't start to… date."

"Well we're not. And we most likely aren't ever going to, so the gods can shut the fu- stop thinking that. He's like my younger brother; it's not really a very possible event."

"Hey, I'm just saying. You and Nico should just… watch out more."

"Well-" Rachel was about to finish her sentence, when she was interrupted by a scuffling from the other corner of the room.

Nico was sprawled on the floor, his two bags around him. "'Sup?"

Apollo examined Nico, and turned around to glare at Rachel. "_He's_ moving in _with _you?"

Rachel's eyes widened, and she turned to face Apollo. "NO! Of course not!" She turned to face Nico, who had gotten up and standing awkwardly there under the glower of Apollo.

"What are you doing here with your bags? I thought you went back home!"

"Well, you see, I got evicted from the building due to lack of rent-paying and considering the fact that I can't find any place to live in at the moment I was hoping you could allow me to live here for a while until I find a place of my own. I mean if Apollo allows it, of course." He said, glancing nervously at Apollo.

Apollo was about to speak, but Rachel cut him off. "Of course you can, Nico."

"No, he can't!" Apollo exclaimed with an incredulous look on his face.

"Why not?"

"You two might, you know, do things!"

"Things like?!"

"You know what I'm saying!"

"No, we won't!" Rachel walked to Apollo and gripped his arm with both her hands. "Pretty please? He _is_ my best friend."

Apollo looked down at Rachel, who was trying to do her best puppy-dog eyes to persuade Apollo. "Your Oracle would be less lonely, for one thing. Please?"

Apollo looked like he was trying to resist the temptation to do something, and then he sighed. "Fine. Just make sure you two don't do anything that goes against the rules of the Oracle. I will be keeping an eye on you, you can be sure of that."

Rachel smiled and kissed Apollo on the cheek. "Oh gods, thank you! You're like the best god ever."

Apollo grinned. "Hey I know I'm the coolest. I'll be off now. Make sure you don't do anything stupid!"

The golden light that Rachel and Nico knew were coming shone, and Apollo was gone when they turned back to face the spot where Apollo was.

Rachel turned to Nico. "Bring your bags to the guest room next to my bedroom. You can stay there."

"Thanks."

"No problem, Dead Boy. I need some company here anyway. Life is boring when you're alone most of the time, you know."

Nico put his belongings away, and turned to Rachel, who was sitting on the king-sized bed in the room. She grinned at him.

"So, what do you want to do now?"

* * *

**A/N: Two chapters in two days, hm. Anyway I suppose this chapter was a little better than the last one, and I got a review which was highly appreciated, so much thanks to Meepmeep123 for being my first reviewer. I'm currently considering if I should make it necessary for three updates per chapter before I will update, but we'll see. I hope you liked this chapter, and thanks for the follows and fave :D I think there are some gaps and the characters might be a little OOC but if you need clarification or any explanations the reviews are open and you can totally PM me****_. This story might be a little draggy for the first few chapters, so please bear with me._**** Much thanks. :D**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Title:**__ Stuck In Her Nightmares_

**Chapter:** 3 (approx. 2157 words)

**Rating:** K

**Characters/Pairings:** Nico di Angelo, Rachel Elizabeth Dare | Nico/Rachel

**Summary:** Rachel's worst nightmares come true, and it is up to Nico to save her. Will true love conquer all, or will Rachel die in the hands of evil?

**Disclaimer:** lol would be good if I owned PJO I would buy so many things

**Author's Notes:** more detailed author's notes at the bottom

* * *

It had been weeks since Nico had moved in with Rachel, and life had been as per usual for the both of them. Well, as usual as it could get with Nico di Angelo and Rachel Elizabeth Dare living in the same apartment. They sometimes stopped for coffee along the way to their respective schools when their first lessons started at around the same time. Other days one of them would just sleep in if he or she had no lessons or they started later in the day. The two of them refused to admit it, but it felt good to have someone else in their daily lives, being able to care for someone else other than themselves. Ever since both of them became single again, that is.

"I'm back!" Nico shouted as he pushed the door open and threw himself and his books on to the couch.

There was some clanking around in the kitchen. "Hey, dinner's almost ready!" Rachel shouted back to Nico, who had walked into the kitchen by then. He waited for Rachel to scoop the noodles she was cooking into plates, and passed one of them, together with a fork and spoon, to Nico. He sat down on the stools at the sleek black kitchen island, before stuffing some noodles into his mouth. He chewed some of it, before making a face that looked like he accidentally chewed on a lemon, and spat it out.

Rachel looked at him in horror. "Dude, what the hell?"

Nico looked back incredulously. "Did you add the entire shaker of salt in or what?"

"What?"

"Have you tasted it? It's too salty! You obviously added too much seasoning and oil. And the noodles are overcooked and burnt-"

"No, wait, stop." Rachel quickly stuck a forkful of noodles into her mouth, before gagging and spitting her food back out. "Oh gods that is horrible."

"I'm glad you know that. I can't believe the whole time I was your friend I didn't know you couldn't cook to save your life."

Rachel's mouth gaped, before she started glaring at Nico. "This is why I always buy takeout! And you forced me to cook today because you wanted 'a healthier lifestyle' for me."

Nico groaned. "I didn't know you couldn't cook!"

"Well I'm sorry for not being able to cook!" Rachel said incredulously. Nico looked at Rachel, and then started to laugh. "What? Oh my gods what's so funny?" Rachel stared at him, confused.

Nico looked around the entire kitchen, his eyes taking in the gigantic mess that Rachel had made in it. There were some sauces everywhere on the kitchen counter, stray noodles lying around, with some eggs and vegetables lying around. "Were you having a war in here or what?"

"Oh stop I'll clean it up later. You are such a clean freak. You would think that a child of Hades who has gone on so many quests on his own and fought so many disgusting monsters in the sewers and forests, wouldn't mind getting a little dirty from time to time."

"Hey it's not a matter of whether or not I'm a demigod and have endured the many utterly disgusting things out there in the world. It's a matter of keeping the place you live in clean and tidy."

"Says the person who was living in a shithole he didn't bother to clean up before he moved into my clean apartment."

Nico smirked at Rachel. "Touche." He got up and took both his and Rachel's plates in his hands, and then tilted them above the trashbin. After the noodles were thrown away, he put the plates in the sink and then turned around to look at the clock. 6.00 P.M.

He looked at Rachel, and smiled. "Come on, what do you say about going to Artie's for a late dinner?"

Rachel, who was drying the dishes (which Nico had washed) with a piece of cloth - they made up a system of each person doing an equal number of chores - replied, "Sure. Do you want to go now?"

"Nah let me take a shower first. I feel dirty. I played some football with my classmates today during break and couldn't take a shower in the school because of a lack of clean clothing."

"Okay, just hurry, will you? I'm hungry as hell."

Rachel and Nico were walking along the road that led to the nearest Artie's, a local fast food restaurant which they both loved. Nico was wearing a black t-shirt and a pair of old jeans with a worn out hoodie and a pair of aviators, his jet-black hair a little mussed up and wet from his shower. Rachel was dressed down, in a tank top with her favourite hoodie and a pair of shorts with a pair of Ray-Bans, her red hair let down in a mass of slight curls from having her hair plaited for the whole afternoon.

People stared, as usual. This was usually what happens to an attractive couple when they walk down the street in broad daylight. Some ogled in lust, some in admiration, and maybe even some in envy. Rachel and Nico had learnt to act like they were ignoring the stares, but they were in fact vigilant to anything suspicious. They might be in New York, but they were still a demigod and the Oracle. They were actually rather lucky to have survived this long in the outside world, together with Percy and Annabeth, considering the death rates of teenage demigods thanks to monsters, and the occasional angry god. Of course, it was partially due to the fact that the four of them looked out for each other pretty well, as they lived rather close to each other and would know if a monster had attacked.

They entered the familiar mildly air-conditioned dingy little store located on the corner of the street, and the smell of fried food wafted into their nostrils. This place sold the authentic taste of fast food which other fast food chains could never replicate. Rachel headed towards the right of the restaurant and immediately sat down in the booth that they usually frequented, partly due to the fact that it was more private than other booths, and they couldn't risk others overhearing what they usually talked about. Nico walked towards the counter at the middle of the restaurant, and stood in front of the only vacant cashier. She was looking down at her perfectly filed nails and didn't bother to look up at Nico, but she spoke.

"Order?"

"Um two double cheeseburgers with extra cheese on the fries and one Coke and an iced tea."

The cashier looked up. She appeared to be a little surprised after looking at Nico, but she quickly put on a smile, and took the money from Nico. As she walked away to prepare Nico's order, she heaved out her heavy bosom a little, and flipped her red-streaked hair behind her back. This, of course, didn't go unnoticed by Nico, who was admiring her tight butt, but quickly shook it off. He didn't want to date a girl for a long time, considering what happened to his previous relationship. His previous girlfriend pretended to not be afraid of him, but he knew. He could feel her shudder a little everytime he touched her. He knew it wasn't her fault, that it was the natural inherited ability from Hades of radiating fear and death onto people he was near to. Eventually he decided to break up with her, because he was tired of feeling the shudders.

Nico wasn't really heartbroken at the time; she was a jealous one anyway, and whenever he hung out with Rachel they would get into huge arguments, despite the fact almost half of them were with Percy and Annabeth. She was always whining that he never brought her to go meet his friends, but Nico didn't like mixing his mortal friends with his demigod ones. Things were different between the two groups of friends he had. The mortal group of friends he had was just there to help him temporarily forget that he was a demigod and that he could have a normal life just like them, and also partly to blend in. The demigods were there to help him remember his roots, that he had some sort of responsibilities for his powers. They were his true friends, and he prefered to hang out with them as compared to his mortal friends. He could be himself - his real demigod with magical powers self - in front of them, and he didn't need to be afraid at all. They knew of his powers, and they hung out with him so much that they had gotten used to the induction of fear and death in them. He was truly happy with them, and that was saying something, considering happiness was something he didn't really have during his teenage years. But he had to admit though, the cashier was rather gorgeous. One of the prettiest girls he had seen in his (really long) life, to be quite honest.

As the cashier came back in front of him and slid his food on a tray towards him, she winked at him. His heart fluttered a little, but on the outside he cleared his throat a little, giving her a quick and polite smile, muttered "thanks", and quickly took the tray and walked to where Rachel was already sitting. He gently put the tray down on the table, and Rachel quickly took one of the burgers and put it in front of her on the table. She leant her face forward and took a deep sniff. "Mmm, I haven't been here in such a long time. I really miss this place."

"Red, don't exaggerate. We were only here like 3 nights ago."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Fine. But I love the food here so much I could eat it everyday, to be honest."

"You'll just grow into a gigantic ball of fat." Nico laughed.

Rachel giggled at the way he phrased things. "So what? It's worth it for food as good as this is."

She had bitten into her burger, and was talking with her mouth full. A little bit of mustard had dribbled down the side of Rachel's mouth, but she didn't seem to have noticed it at all. She was currently too busy chewing and watching tonight's basketball game on the crappy little television in the corner of the room.

Nico couldn't help but stare; Rachel looked somewhat... gorgeous, despite the unglamness of it all. Perhaps Rachel could feel him staring at her, or maybe she just noticed him staring at her out of the corner of her eye while watching the game, but she turned around to face him, and asked, "What?"

Nico said nothing, but he had already picked up a napkin in one hand, and his other hand was headed towards Rachel's mouth. He gently stuck his thumb out, and pressed it gently against the litle bit of mustard, and wiped it away. Without taking his eyes off of Rachel, he cleaned his thumb on the napkin. Rachel was visibly startled, but she was blushing a little at the same time. She had held her breath the whole time while Nico was doing... what he was doing, and for some weird reason her heart had started beating faster and her stomach had done a little excited flip.

Rachel cleared her throat. "Um- uh, thanks."

Nico shook himself out of his reverie. What had he just done? It had just come out of his subconscious mind to do that; it was as if cleaning mustard off Rachel's lips while looking at her like he was her true love was something he did every single day. "A-anytime," he stuttered.

They quickly went back to eating their food in silence; for a while all they could hear from their table was the sound of the crinkling wrapper of the burger, and the sucking of drinks through their straws. That is, until Rachel - who couldn't stand total silence at all - decided to break it. "So... I saw that cashier. She seemed pretty interested in you." Rachel grinned mischievously at Nico.

"What? She was just acting flirty. I see that all the time on the streets, wherever I go. And I have absolutely no idea why that happens."

"It must be you devastatingly drop dead gorgeous bad boy looks," Rachel said jokingly.

"Ha ha. Very punny, Red."

"Hey, you know me, punniest girl in the whole of New York!" Rachel started laughing at her own joke, and Nico couldn't help but laugh along with her too. She always had a weird but funny laughter which was actually rather contagious.

Both of them heaved a sigh of relief internally; thank god the tension was broken. Nothing could break their friendship ever. Except perhaps just that one thing.

* * *

**A/N: hey guys! sorry for abandoning the story for a month, i've just been busy but it's my holidays now so yeah! new chapters, hopefully each week or less. i think this chapter is a little more well-written than the previous one; maybe rachel and nico are still a little ooc (or a lot to you, idk) but i think things are going quite well, in terms of the story's progress. i hope to not have too many chapters for this story, but for it to go at a reasonably comfortable pace, not too fast nor too draggy. also i actually have a plot for this story instead of just winging every chapter like i used to with my other stories (look how well that turned out), so i think there might actually be hopes for this fic! also thanks for following and faving, i love you guys for doing that and please review pretty please? i'll update more often with more reviews ok**


	4. Chapter 4

_**Title:**__ Stuck In Her Nightmares_

**Chapter:** 4 (approx. 1745 words)

**Rating:** K

**Characters/Pairings:** Nico di Angelo, Rachel Elizabeth Dare | Nico/Rachel

**Summary:** Rachel's worst nightmares come true, and it is up to Nico to save her. Will true love conquer all, or will Rachel die in the hands of evil?

**Disclaimer:** lol would be good if I owned PJO I would buy so many things

**Author's Notes:** more detailed author's notes at the bottom

* * *

Once Rachel and Nico arrived home after their dinner, Nico immediately went to take another shower, while Rachel went to her private art studio after cleaning up. She had sudden inspiration to paint something to release her emotions after their little 'moment' at Artie's. It had been weird, but oddly heart-warming, like somehow it was right for Nico to have done so.

She spent about one to two hours splashing paint around the giant canvas she had in front of her, while blasting music from her stereo in the corner of the room. "In New Yooooork, concrete jungle where dreams are made of..." The chorus of Empire State of Mind sang. She was currently listening to the cover sang by the Glee cast; she had always loved to watch Glee for some reason, even though she wasn't a huge fan of musical tv shows.

When she was done she was covered in paint, as she always was after painting. Only her face was safe when she painted; she always tied it up into a loose plait and pinned the stray hairs up, because she was all too familiar with the hassle of removing dry paint from hair.

She went through the door between the adjoining art studio and bedroom, and took some fresh clothes from her closet into her en suite bathroom. She took off her paint splattered and stepped into her hot shower. When she was done, she put on her night clothes, and went to the living room, where she would drink a cup of hot chocolate before going to bed.

Nico was already in the living room when she walked out, wearing another pair of old jeans with a t-shirt he had gotten from Italy when he went back a few years ago. His hair was mildly damp and he had a towel around his neck. The boy had always liked to feel clean whenever he could; being on quests and fighting monsters didn't count because he had no choice. He was sitting on the couch, with his crappy old second-hand laptop in front of him, the screen stuck on an empty Word document with the cursor blinking at the top of the page.

Rachel walked into the kitchen and made two cups of hot chocolate, putting some whipped cream and sprinkling some cinnamon at the top. It was a favourite of hers; her mother used to drink it like that too. She had added a little bit of alcohol into her drink though, she had been needing it ever since the nightmares began. She walked back out, and placed one steaming mug on the coffee table next to Nico's laptop.

Nico looked up and said, "Thanks." Rachel plopped down onto the couch next to him, and poked her head to the side to take a look. Some progress had been made while Rachel was preparing the hot chocolate, and Nico was now furiously typing away on his computer, the clicking sounds of the keys on his keyboards the only noise in the silent room.

"What are you doing?" Rachel asked as she took a sip from her Wonder Woman mug.

Nico picked up his Batman mug and slurped up some hot chocolate from it, causing a whipped cream mustache to form on his upper lip. Licking it off, he replied, "I'm doing a report on the social issues in New York."

"What social issues?"

"Like littering in some areas and graffiti on walls. I have to write about the possible causes of these problems, consequences that could be brought about by them, and feasible ways to solve them without spending too much money."

"Ah, need some help?" Rachel asked as she took another sip from her mug.

"Nah, it's fine. You should go to bed after you've finished. It's going to be pretty late soon. I don't think I'll be done in a while."

"Yeah, you're right. I've got an early day tomorrow." She quickly finished the rest of her drink, and then placed the mug in the kitchen sink before heading oto her bedroom. She yawned as she finished brushing her teeth, before curling herself up into a ball under her thick duvet.

She didn't want Nico to know, but her nightmares had seriously been getting worse over the past months. Once or twice it had been a different nightmare, a nightmare where her childhood phobia had appeared. Other times it was just the same old dream that progressed since the first night. Nico still haven't found out, partly because she hadn't told him, and also she hadn't been screaming when she woke up from her nightmares. She couldn't scream anymore for some reason. She would just wake up sweaty and breathless with her heart beating so fast it always felt like it was going to pop out of her throat any moment.

The alcohol she added to her daily hot chocolate helped a little, though. It helped her fall asleep a little easier at night, but it wasn't strong enough to overcome the nightmares she had at night.

§

_It was the same place again. She was tied to the ground; she couldn't move at all. Flailing around only made the things holding her to the ground stronger. She could feel little things crawling all over her. Spiders? Rachel was shuddering. She could feel the shift in air and could sense the shadows closing in on her again, suffocating her. The little crawly things... one hovered near her mouth, as if contemplating whether or not to enter. Rachel was gasping for breath by this point, and the last she saw was a man walking towards her from the shadows, as if he just appeared from them. The knife. He was preparing to plunge it r-_

Rachel's eyes snapped open, her breathlessness breaking the deafening silence in the room. She coughed a little, albeit violently. She moved to the side of her king-sized bed so she could walk to the kitchen to get a glass of water to drink. After she quietly and wearily opened the door, she tried as quietly as she could to tiptoe her way there so she wouldn't wake Nico up.

All her mind could think of was to get a glass of water to clear her dry throat, and she didn't notice that Nico was still there on the couch, still typing away on his laptop. Nico looked up as she walked into the kitchen; he had sensed it. As she greedily gulped the glass of cool water down, Nico got up and walked towards her.

"Rach?"

Rachel gasped and jumped as a cold hand touched her bare skin exposed at her neck. She banged herself against the kitchen counter, and wincing in pain, turned around. "Are you okay?" Nico had a worried look on his face. "Why are you up so early?"

Rachel took a deep breath, and stuttered, "I-it's nothing, Nico. Don't worry."

"Is it a nightmare again?"

"Yeah, but I only get them like once in a while so it's alright, seriously. You should go back to bed."

"Nah I can't. Drank too much coffee, been up all night doing my report. Shouldn't have left it till this late. Regretting the choices I make now." Nico rubbed his eyes, trying not to yawn, but to no avail.

"Oh... Well I'll stay up and watch some tv then; I can't fall back asleep now that I'm awake." Rachel said as she took a sip of water.

Nico shook his head. "Nope. Try and sleep again."

Rachel stared at him in horror. Perhaps her expression made her look really frightened, because a look of doubt and worry came across Nico's tired face.

"You can sleep on the couch. I'll be there to wake you up the moment there's a sign your nightmares start. Just try, okay? You need rest."

Rachel sighed, and then nodded wearily. "Fine. But you promised to wake me up when it starts." She walked towards the couch, and plopped down on it, her muscles relaxing as she did. A wave of fatigue came across her body. She had never been this tired before, nor had her nightmares been this intense before. This time it was as if she really was being pulled into the shadows. It felt more real than before. She had tried to put on a strong front for the past few months; her fatigue was always masked by a well-applied layer of foundation.

Nico followed close behind, and sat down beside Rachel, who was already curled up on one of the pillows on the couch. Her head was resting on it, and her eyes were already half-closed. Nico shot her a look of worry, and a few seconds later when he was sure that she had fallen asleep, he returned to his report.

As he listened to Rachel's steady breathing, he couldn't concentrate on his report anymore. He looked at Rachel, and thoughts flickered through his mind. She thought he didn't know that she had been waking up in a fluster for the past months, but he knew. He could sense a change in her aura even when he was asleep. He had trained himself to do that while he was in the outside world on his own; it was so that he would know if anything was wrong even when he was resting.

He never checked on her, though. He always waited until she went back to sleep again. Most of the time she did, sometimes she didn't. But when he felt that her aura was back to normal again, albeit still a little shaky, he would just leave her be. Rachel was the kind who didn't like people being overly worried for her.

She had lied that the nightmares were only on occasion. She probably just didn't want him to worry about her. But something was wrong with the entire situation. He didn't know what it was, but he always felt a shift in the atmosphere when Rachel got her nightmares, as if something or someone else was in the room with her.

Nico stared into space for a while, before returning his gaze to Rachel. After listening to her slight snoring for a little while, he shook it off, and then turned back to his computer, yawning.

Perhaps it was just something his fried brain was overanalysing. Maybe he should just forget about it. Rachel was fine now, and it was all that mattered.

* * *

**A/N: hey guys two chapters in 3 days! how nice. if you like the story, that is. things are progressing quite ok at this point of time, but i might start rushing things a little. so just a little update, and reviews are highly appreciated!**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Title:**__ Stuck In Her Nightmares_

**Chapter:** 5 (approx. 1357 words)

**Rating:** K

**Characters/Pairings:** Nico di Angelo, Rachel Elizabeth Dare | Nico/Rachel

**Summary:** Rachel's worst nightmares come true, and it is up to Nico to save her. Will true love conquer all, or will Rachel die in the hands of evil?

**Disclaimer:** lol would be good if I owned PJO I would buy so many things

**Author's Notes:** more detailed author's notes at the bottom

* * *

Nico walked into the cafe in his college library after his morning classes ended; he needed to talk to Percy with Rachel trying to cut in every few words he spoke. He walked to one of the tables, put his backpack down on it, sat down and took his phone out.

Before he could dial Percy's phone number, a waitress walked over to his table and asked for his order. Ordering a mocha latte, Nico quickly dialled and put the phone to his right ear.

It took around five rings before Percy finally picked up. "Hello?"

"Perce, I need your help. It's Rachel."

Percy chuckled. "Ahh, you finally need some girl help in wooing Rachel, eh? I knew you always had feelings for her it's about time you acted on it!"

"Wait what? You think I like Rachel and am asking you for advice? Please. You couldn't woo a girl to save your life. I don't even know how you got Annabeth." Nico smirked.

"Shut up. So if you're not calling to ask for help about wooing Rachel, then what's going on?"

"It's kinda hard to explain this, but Rachel's been having nightmares."

"Nightmares? So?"

Nico rolled his eyes at Percy's ignorance. "Yeah, SO she's been having them every night since I moved in with her, and probably even before that." Nico heard Percy take in a deep breath.

"Hmm, something does seem a little fishy here. Maybe something evil is at work here."

"No shit, Sherlock. Rachel's not telling me about it, I think she doesn't want us to worry, but I can sense it. It's been happening every single night, and she isn't getting enough sleep. She's exhausted."

"Yeah, you're right. We should try to find out what's going on." Percy paused. "Annabeth's not home now, though. I'll tell her about it later; maybe she can do some research and try to find out?"

"Yeah that's what I thought. Thanks bro."

"Anytime, cuz. I'll tell Annabeth to let you know if she finds anything. See you on Sunday." Percy said, as he hung up the phone.

As Nico was putting his phone into the front pocket of his backpack, the waitress came back to his booth, balancing a tray on one hand and putting his drink down on the table with the other. He mumbled a small 'thank you', and then took out his Italian History textbook. He figured he might as well get some studying done; his exams were coming soon. What he couldn't figure was why he even took Italian History in the first place; he had been there for what they were learning in class now, some facts, he knew, were completely inaccurate. Besides, he was half-Italian, and had been speaking the language for almost a century now, his fluency surpassed even that of the teacher of the class. Maybe it was so that he could at least have an easy A on this one, so he could at least pass college with an acceptable grade.

He also took Greek, another easy A. Since his brain was hardwired to decipher Greek automatically, why not use it to his advantage? He knew what the teacher was saying most of the time, but since the oral exam only took up 35% of the grade and he was definitely better at the written exam, he aced the class easily.

As he stirred his coffee a little he flipped open his textbook to a page full of highlighted words and scribbled notes written all over the place, a voice rang out from beside him. "Do you mind if I share a seat with you?"

Nico looked up. It was the girl from Artie's the other night. "I'm sorry, it's just that all the other tables are full, otherwise I wouldn't have asked."

Nico shook himself out of his reverie. "Uh, sure." He moved his backpack onto his lap, to make space for the girl. The red streaked hair, red nails, had he seen her somewhere other than at Artie's before? The girl smiled and thanked him, and Nico looked at her again, speaking. "Have I seen you somewhere before?"

"That night at Artie's, remember?" She looked down at his textbook. "Also, from what I can tell, we share the same Italian History class."

No wonder he had found her familiar. He had seen her before in his classes before. Most of the time he had sat in the back alone, and his eyes had flickered over her hair before, most of the time amongst a crowded group of people.

"I'm Ruby, what's your name?"

"Ah, I'm Nico. Nico di Angelo."

Ruby nodded. "That's a nice name. Is it Italian?" she laughed.

"As a matter of fact, yes it is. di Angelo is Italian for 'angel'." Nico chuckled.

Ruby grinned, saying, "Are you Italian? Because you don't look like one."

"Yeah, my mom was Italian, but my dad... uh, he's Greek."

"Half-Italian, half-Greek. No wonder you've got those looks." Ruby winked.

Nico blushed a little. "Um, thanks?" he laughed. Ruby leaned forward a little, and whispered. "Hey I need a litle help with the topics tested for end-of-years. Could you maybe help me a little?" Ruby's face had softened, and she had a pleading look on her face.

Nico looked at her for a while. "Ok, sure. Do you want to start now? I have nothing to do anyway."

Ruby nodded, and took out her notes, which were full of doodles all around the page. Nico leaned forward, pointing out important information with his pencil. "Ok, see... What they are trying to say is that before Mussolini came into power..."

§

Two hours later, with five empty cups of coffee, Nico leaned back into his chair, and breathed out heavily. "Maybe we should take a break for now and continue tomorrow or something. You look like your brain was just stir-fried in a wok."

Ruby sighed. "Yeah, you're right. It feels like it." She looked down at her hands reluctantly. "It's really hard trying to learn things when you have problems with your brain."

Nico's ears perked up at this. "Problems... Like what?"

Ruby looked at him reluctantly. "Okay, don't tell anyone this, but I've got dyslexia."

"No way. I'm dyslexic too."

Ruby's eyes widened, and her jaw practically dropped to the floor. "No way. You seem too smart to be dyslexic."

Nico chuckled, and pushed Ruby's chin up jokingly. "Nah, I can't read these things at all, without some help." He gestured to his textbooks. Looking at Ruby's confused expression, he shrugged and replied, "The teacher teaches a lot vocally, so I just listen to what she says. My brain retains the information I hear pretty well, so that's basically how I learn."

"But she speaks in Italian!" Ruby cried out incredulously.

"Hey you forgot I'm half-Italian; I've been speaking the language for almost my entire life."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Alright, I'll give you that. So, when do you want to meet up again?"

"How about the day after, after my afternoon classes? Do you want to come over to my place or..."

Ruby raised her eyebrows. "You're quick to ask one out to your place. We've only known each other for like 3 hours!"

"W-well, it's only studying, that's all! I only suggested my place because it would be rather quiet so it would be more conducive for us, you know." Nico spluttered, with a horrified expression on his face. "Oh gods, please don't get the wrong idea."

Ruby laughed. "Psh, of course not. I can tell when someone's trying to take advantage of me, or if someone's being genuine about it. I can tell, you're genuine, and trust me, I've had plenty of experience. It's a date, then?"

Nico smiled and nodded, albeit a little nervously, and watched as Ruby picked up her bag and walked away, giving him a small wave as she went. Nico breathed in deeply, finished drinking the last dregs of his coffee, before packing up his things and leaving as well.

He needed to get back to the apartment ASAP. It was his turn to cook dinner tonight.

* * *

**A/N: hellooooooo three chapters in three days i'm being so nice but yes, i know it's probably only because i have nothing to do during my holidays at all. this chapter was a little shitty, and probably just a filler chapter, tbh. please tell me if it gets to draggy; i need feedback and comments to make this story better for you guys! thanks for the review and follows, i really appreciate it, thank you :)**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Title:**__ Stuck In Her Nightmares_

**Chapter:** 6 (approx. 1669 words)

**Rating:** K

**Characters/Pairings:** Nico di Angelo, Rachel Elizabeth Dare | Nico/Rachel

**Summary:** Rachel's worst nightmares come true, and it is up to Nico to save her. Will true love conquer all, or will Rachel die in the hands of evil?

**Disclaimer:** lol would be good if I owned PJO I would buy so many things

**Author's Notes:** more detailed author's notes at the bottom

* * *

For the past few weeks, Ruby and Nico had mostly been cooped up in his room at Rachel's apartment studying. Rachel didn't mind, but to be honest, she was starting to feel a little left out. Nico hadn't really spent much time with her during those weeks. Most of the time Nico was 'meeting Ruby to study' or 'meet up with a lecturer'.

Rachel sat alone on her bed, not knowing what to do, her laptop open in front of her. She could faintly hear Nico and Ruby laughing from the room next door. Sometimes she wondered if they were really studying or just… Rachel sighed. Why did she care? She should be happy for Nico that he had made a new friend in college. He used to be alone all the time; now he was part of a popular clique in college. He seemed really happy.

She sighed again and turned back to her computer, and resumed her game of Left 4 Dead 2, to get her mind off the thoughts of being a lonely old cat lady forever by slashing a zombie horde with a chainsaw.

§

Nico was sitting on the floor in his room, while Ruby was sitting at his desk, with open books and papers scattered all around them. They had become great friends during the past weeks; they had found out that they had so many similarities with each other. They both had an older sister who had died when they were younger, and their family problems were somewhat under similar circumstances as well.

But over the past few weeks Nico had been gradually finding her more and more attractive. _Was that weird? Was it too soon? _He had asked himself those questions multiple times. He was attracted to her. He had asked Rachel about it, but other than that he hadn't seen her lately. Burying his face in his book, he tried to remember what she told him.

"_Just try and see if she likes you too, and then take necessary actions." Rachel had said matter-of-factly while she made some hot chocolate, melting the chocolate in a pan, before pouring it into two mugs and adding a little bit of water to both mugs._

"_The thing is I can't tell if she likes me or not." Nico blinked as he leaned on the kitchen counter, watching Rachel._

_Rachel was trying to put some whipped cream onto the liquid, but the can only made a raspy sound, with only air exiting the nozzle. "Could you help me get the spare can of whipped cream from the top cupboard?" She asked Nico. She had tried to reach up for it, but she was too short even after top-toeing. After Nico passed her can, she spoke again. "Thanks. She likes you too."_

_Nico blinked. "How do you even know that?"_

_Rachel shrugged, as she grabbed a pinch of cinnamon and sprinkled it on top of the whipped cream. "I can tell. Have you seen the way she looks at you when you aren't looking? Also, overly touchy."_

_Nico laughed. "Overly touchy?" He raised an eyebrow._

"_Haven't you noticed? She touches you a lot, like on the shoulder and thighs and arms. _Especially _your arms." She eyed Nico's muscled biceps up and down, and then looked at Nico with a smug expression on her face._

_Nico laughed. "So what should I do?" He took the mug that Rachel held out to him, and put it on the kitchen island, before sitting down on the bar stool in front of it._

_Rachel did the same, and took a sip before answering. "Hmm, I don't know, take the necessary action."_

"Nico. I need help with trying to translate this." Nico turned to look at Ruby, who had her head buried in their Greek reading assignment (turns out they took Greek class together too), her long braid lying on her left shoulder. He stood up, and walked towards the desk, and leaned over her. The weird symbols on the page immediately looked to him like it was perfectly simple English. "It says, From the outside looking in you can never understand it. From the inside looking out you can explain it.'"

He looked down at Ruby, and smiled. His onyx eyes met her blue ones, and his smile faltered. Her lips were parted, and her breath was hitched. Nico could sense her heart beating really fast. Nico's stomach did a little flip. He leaned down, and his lips met hers.

He took it slow at first, but slowly their kiss deepened. Ruby's arms were wrapped around Nico's neck, and his hands were entangled and twisted in her smooth ponytail. Ruby stood up from her chair, and Nico's hands travelled down her back, and gripped the back of her thighs, lifting her up. Ruby hooked her long legs around Nico's waist, and the kisses got hungrier. Nico moaned a little, and gripped Ruby tighter towards him.

He moved backwards and leaned against the wall. Ruby deepened the kiss a little more, before pulling away. Breathing heavily, she whispered into Nico's ear. "So… I guess we're official now?" She winked.

Nico smiled. "We should probably get back to studying. We'll have time for this after the exams."

§

It had been another two weeks since Ruby and Nico started dating. Rachel was starting to feel even more lonely than usual. Nico had been spending so much time with Ruby lately; going out with her almost every night, spending the weekends with her. Rachel hadn't gotten time alone with Nico; he always came back after midnight, after Rachel had gone to bed. Frankly, she was starting to get really angry at him, but she couldn't figure out why. Maybe she was just upset that Nico wasn't spending as much time with her as he used to, like Ruby had now replaced Rachel as first on the 'Most Important Women in Nico's Life' list. Or perhaps she was jealous. But that wasn't possible, was it? He's just her best friend. She should be happy for him, right?

On the night that Ruby was busy and Nico remained at home (finally), Rachel sat on the couch next to Nico, but instead of cuddling up to him like she used to, she tried to move as far away from him as possible. Nico glanced sideways at her, but didn't say anything about it.

"So what movie do you want to watch tonight? I heard Harry Potter's on Star Movies tonight."

Rachel didn't meet his gaze, but she shrugged and mumbled. "Whatever."

Nico glanced at her again before switching the channel to Star Movies. "Are you alright?"

Rachel kept her eyes glued to the screen. Deathly Hallows Part 2, her favourite. But she wasn't enjoying it much. "Yeah," she mumbled again.

"You sure?" Nico poked his head in front of Rachel's.

Rachel glared a little before stopping herself, and pushed Nico away. "YES. Now don't disturb me from watching my movie."

Nico picked up the remote and pressed the single red button on the top of the control. Rachel turned around and stared incredulously at him. "What was that for?"

Nico moved closer to Rachel, but she tried to scoot over to the corner of the couch. Nico followed. "You're pissed at me."

Rachel turned away, letting her long red hair cover her face. "No I'm not." She clenched up her fists in the pockets of the hoodie she was wearing.

Nico breathed in deeply. "Tell me why you're angry."

"I told you, I'm not angry. Not at you, not at anyone."

Nico grabbed Rachel's clenched fists out of her pockets. Rachel began to struggle, but Nico held a strong grip. Rachel knew that she shouldn't bother; Nico had always been able to overpower her in terms of strength. But she still tried. "Ugh, let go of me!"

"Rach, I know when you're angry at me. I can tell. You start ignoring me, and avoiding me." Nico growled.

Rachel looked up and glared at Nico, her hair covering half of her face. "FINE! I am pissed at you! Do you have any idea how lonely I feel right now? You're my best friend! Hanging out with Percy and Annabeth is just plain cockblocking, and my other friends bore me so much right now." Her eyes started to tear up. Nico loosened his grip on Rachel's wrists.

Rachel lifted her hands and wiped the tears out of her eyes. Nico grabbed a tissue from the box on the coffee table, and passed it to her. Nico looked at her with a hurt expression on his face. "I-I'm so sorry, Rach. Gods, I can't believe I never realised during the past months. Why did you take so long to talk to me about it?"

"You looked really happy, and I-I shouldn't be so jealous just because you can meet other girls and date them, and I can't. But I really couldn't stand it for the past few weeks, months even. I didn't want to break up your happiness by demanding that you spend more time with me. Besides, I'm used to the feeling of neglect." She mumbled.

Nico sighed, and holding Rachel by the shoulders, turned her around to face him. When she refused to look at him, he gently pushed Rachel's face up by the chin until green eyes met black. "Rach, I would never neglect you. You should have told me about this earlier. I would have made more time in my schedule for you, Red."

Rachel smiled. "Really?"

Nico smiled back, and nodded. "I'll spend as much time with you as possible. I promise." He pulled Rachel into his arms, and hugged her. Rachel put her arms around Nico's waist and squeezed him tight, like how they used to do when Nico had to appease Rachel when she got angry. Rachel sniffed in, then let go of Nico, before picking up the remote control in his lap. "Now let's get back to watching Harry Potter."

* * *

**A/N: this was a shit filler chapter I'm so sorry but I've been having writer's block so badly these past few days and I have no idea how to write the next few progressions of the story. This certain part of the story, these few chapters, may be a little draggy because I need to show how Rachel and Nico's relationship will lead up to the endgame. I'll try to put as much details as I can into one chapter, and make things more interesting. Once again, I apologise for the slowness of these chapters. Reviews are highly appreciated; you could totally PM or review to give me some ideas for things to happen! Also be prepared for some random fluff scenes**


	7. Chapter 7

_**Title:**__ Stuck In Her Nightmares_

**Chapter:** 7 (approx. 2146 words)

**Rating:** K

**Characters/Pairings:** Nico di Angelo, Rachel Elizabeth Dare | Nico/Rachel

**Summary:** Rachel's worst nightmares come true, and it is up to Nico to save her. Will true love conquer all, or will Rachel die in the hands of evil?

**Disclaimer:** lol would be good if I owned PJO I would buy so many things

**Author's Notes:** more detailed author's notes at the bottom

* * *

True to his promise (when was he not to be honest), Nico started to spend more time with Rachel. He started to spend alternate days of the week with Rachel and Ruby. On this particular Tuesday night, Rachel made a spontaneous decision to bake some cookies, and managed to make Nico join in the baking.

"So, how are things with your _girlfriend_?" Rachel asked as she beat some of the ingredients into a bowl, raising her eyebrows playfully.

Nico shrugged as he held the bowl in place for her. "Eh, it's fine."

Rachel didn't mind this arrangement, but Ruby did. He didn't want Rachel to know, but when Ruby found out that he was cutting time short with her for the sake of spending time with another girl (Rachel), she had thrown a rather big fuss and threatened to break up with him.

"_Let's go to mine for dinner tonight." Ruby breathed in Nico's ear as she put her arms around Nico's neck from behind._

_Nico turned around and pecked Ruby on the lips. "I can't, Ruby, I promised Rachel I would spend time with her today. I'm cooking."_

_Ruby's eyes narrowed, and asked, "Again?"_

_Nico took Ruby's hands and moved a little to the side so she could sit down next to him. "Ruby, she's my best friend. Since like 3 years ago. We have a history under certain… circumstances."_

_Ruby wriggled her hands out of Nico's. "I'm your girlfriend! Who's more important, me or her?"_

_Nico blinked. "You are both as important to me as each other."_

"_But I'm your girlfriend! I should be more important to you than her!"_

_Nico sighed. "Ruby, stop being so unreasonable."_

"_You want a break up? Is that it?"_

_Nico closed his eyes. They had been having so many arguments and making up the past week it was so hard to keep up. With a pained but exasperated expression on his face he said, "No, Ruby. I don't. I'm not obliged to spend all my time with you, Ruby. I have a life outside of dating my girlfriend."_

"_So you're saying that dating me is a burden, a hindrance in your life?" Ruby exclaimed incredulously._

_Nico sighed again. "Ruby, please stop."_

"_No! You know what, we should break up." Ruby leant back into her chair and crossed her arms._

_Nico breathed in deeply, and turning back to his books on the table, said only one word. "Fine." Frankly he was getting angrier by the minute._

_Perhaps Ruby had been expecting him to ask her not to break up with him, and she stared at him with a shocked expression on her face. "What?"_

_Nico didn't turn around. "You wanted a break up. Fine."_

_Ruby immediately stood up, and left, leaving Nico there alone. For some reason, Nico didn't feel particularly sad or upset that Ruby had broken up with him. She had been really annoying to him ever since they started dating. It was as if she had become bossier, and more possessive. She was different from the girl that Nico had met at the café. Things changed quickly with her. Frankly, Nico was really tired of her temper tantrums and constant arguments with him._

_But five minutes later Nico's conscience got the better of him, and he looked up. He hadn't been able to concentrate on his work the past few minutes, to be quite honest. He looked around for Ruby, and when he didn't see her anywhere he quickly packed up his things, and swung his backpack onto his right shoulder before walking in the direction of the college's deserted music room on the third floor._

_Ruby always went there whenever she felt upset, he had learned during the few weeks he had been with her. He pressed down on the handle of the door, and quietly walked into the room. He couldn't risk shadow-travelling into the room; Ruby might see. He headed towards the corner where the grand piano was; she loved to play it when she was upset._

_Nico sat down on the bench next to Ruby, but she inched away. "Ruby, I'm sorry. My anger got the better of me. It's just that… there's nothing between Rachel and me. We're just best friends. Purely best friends."_

_Ruby resolutely ignored him, but she stopped playing the piano, and her hands froze on the keys. "Purely best friends, huh?"_

_Nico nodded, and said, "Yeah. Nothing could ever happen between us. Besides, even if I wanted to have a relationship with her, which I don't, I can't anyway. She's under some certain… circumstances."_

_Ruby looked up at him, and raised an eyebrow at him. "Certain circumstances?"_

_Nico swallowed, and replied, "Yeah… it's a little complicated. Pretty sure you don't want to know. I assure you, nothing will ever happen between us. I'm sorry."_

_Ruby folded her arms across her chest. "Sorry doesn't cut it."_

_Nico sighed internally. "So what can I do to make you forgive me?"_

_Ruby looked up at him, and smirked. "Spend the whole of next week with me. I would make it this week, but I'm busy."_

_Nico blinked. The whole of next week? But he had promised Rachel he would stay at home on Friday to have a movie marathon with her. Perhaps he had paused for a little too long, but Ruby's face blackened a little. Nico, not wanting to have another row with her, quickly agreed. "Alright, fine. I'll tell Rachel I won't be home early for next week, okay? You happy?"_

_Ruby smiled, and uncrossed her arms. "Yes! I love you, babe!" She quickly pecked Nico on the lips before picking up her bag and hugging him, and then left the music room for her next lesson. Nico sighed, and then shadow travelled home, where Rachel had then forced him to bake cookies with her._

Rachel raised one of her eyebrows at him. "She broke up with you, didn't she?"

Nico stared at her. "What makes you think so?"

"Oh, I can tell. I'm your best friend; I can always tell when you're dumped."

Nico chuckled lightly. "As a matter of fact… no, I haven't been dumped. Things have just been getting a little rough lately."

"Oh, I see." _Was_ _it just him, or did Rachel seem a little disappointed?_ "Anyway, let's stop talking about this. Percy and Annabeth have invited us to go over to their place this Friday night for dinner."

"Well, I hope Percy's cooking or they are buying takeout. Because Annabeth's cooking sucks, like a certain someone I know."

Rachel's mouth dropped open, and she turned to face Nico with her eyes narrowed. "Are you talking about me, Dead Boy?"

"No, I'm talking about your evil twin sister, Elizabeth Rachel Dare."

Rachel narrowed her eyes mischievously, and grabbing a handful of flour, flinging it at Nico's face, exclaiming, "I am an awesome cook!"

Rachel giggled. Nico coughed as the flour spread, and grabbed a handful as flour as well, throwing it at Rachel. "Have you forgotten the noodles the other night?"

Rachel gasped as the white flour hit her face and hair, and started grabbing the ingredients nearest to her, throwing them at Nico. Nico laughed, and did the same. They started flinging dough and sugar at each other, and Nico cracked an egg into Rachel's red hair. Rachel screamed, and tried to wipe the egg out of her hair, but to no avail. It only made her hair more entangled, and made her hands sticky. She used both hands to grab the cocoa powder she was planning to use in the cookies, and threw it at Nico, before laughing. Nico grabbed the container holding the sugar, and held It high above Rachel's head, where he knew she wouldn't be able to reach, and started pouring it all on Rachel, laughing.

Rachel shrieked, trying to run away, but Nico chased her around the kitchen, grabbing random ingredients and throwing them at Rachel. Rachel couldn't stop laughing, and tried to retaliate by pelting eggs at Nico, but she didn't have as good an aim as Nico, who had spent more time training as a demigod in a year than she ever had in her entire lifetime.

Rachel tried to run away from him and into the living room, but Nico managed to grab her around the waist from the back before she could do that. Rachel laughed loudly, and tried to struggle out of his grip as she turned around, but Nico held her tightly. Rachel couldn't stop giggling, until she realised that Nico had stopped laughing and had stopped attacking her with food. Rachel stopped laughing, but a grin remained on her face, and she looked up at Nico, who was about a head taller than her. Nico was gazing at her with an intense expression on his face, and Rachel's grin faltered. Her lips parted, and Nico's breath hitched a little.

He let go of Rachel's waist, and lifted up his hand to sweep her fringe away from her face. He gently swept the flour and egg off her face, gently patting her hair in an attempt to remove some of the white in the red strands. Oh _my gods, what's he doing? _Rachel's heart started beating faster and she glanced shyly up at Nico. His hand froze as it travelled halfway down her right cheek. _Wait, don't stop._ He smiled lightly, and said, "I'll clean up. You go get a shower."

Rachel looked a little stunned, but she nodded. _What was that all about?_ Her heart was still beating really quickly. She walked to the bathroom in her room, and quickly took a shower. _Something had happened between the two of them, and she had enjoyed that something. _She shook her head. Both of them were completely unavailable; besides, she was what, four years older than him? She found that kind of relationship totally weird.

She wiped herself down after thoroughly washing her hair and body with shampoo and body wash, and then put on some fresh clothes before dumping her dirty clothes in the laundry basket so that the housekeeper - who was coming in tomorrow - could wash it.

As she walked out, Nico was still cleaning the kitchen, but it was already somewhat rather neat. He had cleaned the kitchen counter and island, and had thrown away the trash –inclusive of egg shells - littered around the kitchen. He had swept up the floor and then mopped up the floor before washing the bowls and whisks and other equipment they had used. All that was left was drying the things, putting them back, and mopping down and cleaning the kitchen down one more time, to prevent the overnight invasion of hordes of ants.

Rachel walked over to Nico, who was cleaning the equipment with a dry cloth, and nudged him over before grabbing the cloth from his hands. "You go take a shower now. You stink, gods." She wrinkled her nose as she smiled at Nico.

Nico stood there for a little while, and then looked at Rachel, who was happily drying a bowl. "Um, Rachel?"

"Yeah?"

"I can't spend the entire of next week with you, I'm sorry." Nico grimaced.

Rachel's smile faltered a little, but she still kept it going. With a light and slightly disappointed smile on her face she asked, "Why?"

"I promised Ruby because she threatened to break up with me."

Rachel, for some reason she couldn't fathom, felt like crying. Back to feeling lonely again. Back to her stupid nightmares again. She swallowed, and smiled a little wider. "It's okay, Nico. Go spend time with your girlfriend. I'll be fine alone."

Nico looked a little worried, and asked, "Are you sure? Because if you want me to I can reason it out with Ruby, frankly she's been a little too possessive late-"

Rachel cut Nico off. "It's fine, Nico. Really. You should have fun outside of our world, you know." She turned back to drying the bowl, wiping it down before moving on to a whisk. Nico stood there beside her for a little while, as if contemplating if he should stay or not, before whispering, "Thanks, Red. You're the best." He gave her a quick squeeze, before walking to the nearest bathroom to get showered and changed.

Rachel swept away the tiny patch of flour he had left on her arm when he squeezed her, and blinked back a few tears.

She hated being lonely. Only Nico was able to make her feel unlonely, and now he was gone too. To a girlfriend, _outside of their world, their little bubble_, she had said. She had no idea why she was so upset about this though. It couldn't be what she thought it was, right? It couldn't be. It just wasn't possible.

It was never possible, isn't possible, and never will be, right?

* * *

**A/N: hellooooooo I wrote another chapter just for you guys. Writer's block aside, it turns out that night time writing works better for me. Two chapters in a day, woo! It's only because I was considering if I should upload chapter 6 or rewrite it, but then I decided to upload it. Hope you liked these two chapters, and reviews would be seriously highly appreciated, thanks :D**


	8. Chapter 8

_**Title:**__ Stuck In Her Nightmares_

**Chapter:** 8 (approx. 1145 words)

**Rating:** K

**Characters/Pairings:** Nico di Angelo, Rachel Elizabeth Dare | Nico/Rachel

**Summary:** Rachel's worst nightmares come true, and it is up to Nico to save her. Will true love conquer all, or will Rachel die in the hands of evil?

**Disclaimer:** lol would be good if I owned PJO I would buy so many things

**Author's Notes:** more detailed author's notes at the bottom

* * *

As Nico lay in bed that night after he had taken a shower, he thought about what happened that evening between him and Rachel. _What had he done?_ He raised his hands and put them under his damp hair as he tried to make things more comfortable for himself. It had been quite a day.

He remembered how he had looked at Rachel, like she was the prettiest girl in the world (which she was, to him) and how Rachel had looked shyly back up at him. For some weird reason he had wanted to lean down and put his lips on hers. But he didn't. Why did he want that anyway? They were nothing more than best friends. Best friends don't usually snog each other, right? Besides he had Ruby to think about, even if he had wanted to kiss her.

_He doesn't… like her, does he?_

It wasn't possible. Rachel didn't like him. She was gorgeous though, puberty had done her good. He remembered when he had been gone for a quest and he had returned to see Rachel taller, looking more mature but oddly youthful at the same time. Her hair had also turned from messy curls to wavy strands.

He had a crush on her when he was younger, but since puberty hit him as well, he had started to get over it too. He was over it. Besides, she was off limits. Apollo had made that "no dating" rule for a reason. Apollo would probably melt him at 100 degrees Celcius if he tried anything on Rachel.

He heard Rachel get into bed in the next bedroom. Nico sighed. He shouldn't have disappointed her just now. He had made sure that Rachel and Ruby would both have equal amounts of time with him; he didn't want to lose both of them, they were the two most important women in his life now. No one had ever felt as important to him since Bianca and his mom died.

What he found stupid was that Rachel had compromised – partly because she had no choice - , but Ruby hadn't and had forced him to spend the entire week with him. And the worst was that he had already promised Rachel that they would go to the midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises. Now he had compromised Rachel for Ruby, and he felt really bad about it.

He tried to clear his mind, and he turned around onto his side to try and fall asleep. As he closed his eyes, he immediately drifted off to sleep. Like he said, it had been a really long day.

§

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Nico's eyes snapped open as a high-pitched shriek woke him up. His body immediately shot up, and he flipped his duvet off his body before lifting both of his legs off the bed. He ran his right hand through his already mussed up hair, and ran into Rachel's room, with a panicked expression on his face.

"Rachel!"

Rachel jumped a little, but when she looked up and realised it was Nico, she visibly relaxed. She remained heaving though, and Nico quickly sat down next to her on the bed. She was sweating, and the back of her neck and her hair were drenched with sweat. He waited until she had started to calm down first, and then he spoke.

"Is it your nightmares again?"

Rachel nodded, and took another deep breath to calm her heartbeat rate down. "It's nothing, Nico. Go back to bed."

Nico hesitated. Was she angry at him? He couldn't care about that now. "Do you want to talk about it?" Rachel shook her head.

"No, I think you need to talk to someone about it. Tell me."

Rachel seemed to hesitate for a little, and then started speaking. "I've been having nightmares since the beginning of the year. It started out as mild flashes of me being in a really dark place, and then it progressed to people and… things appearing in them."

Nico processed this, and then asked, "People? Things? Who and what are they?"

Rachel looked like she couldn't answer this without difficulty, and shrugged her shoulders. "I- I don't know. This person would hold this golden dagger, and he would make his way slowly towards me, while… "

"While what?" Nico asked.

Rachel looked scared. "C-can I not answer that?"

"No. Tell me."

Rachel put her arms around her propped up knees, and shook her head, as her lips shuddered.

Nico put his hands on her shoulders and turned her body to face him. "Please, Rach."

"The walls of this place would close in on me, and the shadows would suffocate and strangle me, and little spider-like things would c-crawl all over me and-" Rachel had started to tear up, and she was now heaving. She had tucked her face into her arms, and started crying. Nico put his arms around Rachel, and pulled her in close while she sobbed.

Nico knew why Rachel was so freaked out by these nightmares. They had been her phobias since she was a young girl. She had experienced a lot due to the fact that she was the infamous rich daughter of Warren Dare. Being the daughter of Warren meant that his enemies were her enemies too. He knew that these nightmares only reminded her of these bad memories. No amount of psychiatrist appointments could erase something embedded so deeply in someone.

Nico gave her a reassuring squeeze, and remained stationary on her bed, with his arms around her, until she had calmed down, and her heaving sobs became mild sniffling. Rachel then straightened up, and then wiped away her tears with the back of her hand.

Nico spoke. "Rach, don't worry. I'll find out what's causing your nightmares, and I'll make sure it goes away. Go back to sleep."

Rachel sniffed, and then whispered, "Thanks, Nico. But isn't it just normal nightmares? You don't need to do anything about it."

"No, they aren't. Normal nightmares don't haunt you every single day for more than half a year on end. I've asked Percy and Annabeth about it, so you don't need to worry about it."

Rachel nodded, and then lay down, allowing Nico to tuck her in. As Nico stood up, Rachel turned her body around, and grabbed Nico's hand. Nico jolted a little, but he turned around. "Don't go." Rachel whispered. She was looking at him with pleading eyes. Nico hesitated, but he finally gave in. He slowly lay down on the bed next to Rachel, and gingerly placed his hand on her stomach, and gently patted her to sleep.

Nico waited until Rachel started to snore lightly, before closing his eyes himself. He should have left, but he couldn't because his left arm was pressed under Rachel's body. And to be quite honest…

He didn't want to leave.

* * *

**A/N: hello guys! Another chapter up for you, but it is really short though, so I'm sorry. Because this chapter doesn't really have much, it mainly just consists of Rachel confiding in Nico and Nico somewhat realizing he likes Rachel? I hope you liked it, though. Also thanks to the follows and faves and reviews since the previous chapter, especially Christina, and Debbie, who are my fellow friends from twitter and Singapore! Thanks for your reviews guys :D also I would like to appreciate the fact that Kamberroxs1998 took the time to give me a suggestion for what to put into the story. I'll definitely put it in; it's a great idea! Thanks again, and enjoy :D**


	9. Chapter 9

_**Title:**__ Stuck In Her Nightmares_

**Chapter:** 9 (approx. 2555 words)

**Rating:** K

**Characters/Pairings:** Nico di Angelo, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase | Nico/Rachel, Mild Percabeth

**Summary:** Rachel's worst nightmares come true, and it is up to Nico to save her. Will true love conquer all, or will Rachel die in the hands of evil?

**Disclaimer:** lol would be good if I owned PJO I would buy so many things

**Author's Notes:** more detailed author's notes at the bottom

* * *

The next morning when Rachel woke up, Nico was gone. The window was shut in contrast to the previous night when it was open, and raindrops were pelting heavily on the glass. She put on a sweatshirt and walked around the apartment, looking for him, but he seemed to have gone out. Rachel felt a little disappointed, considering it was a Sunday morning. As Rachel sat about making her breakfast, she thought about what happened the previous night.

She blushed a little, as she bit her lip. She really shouldn't have asked him to stay. That was actually really stupid, now that she thought about it. Nico was so going to make fun of her for it, and Apollo was probably going to kill them both if he found out that they had slept in the same bed. Oh gods, what had she done? Her stupid groggy but frightened mind had made her do something so exceptionally stupid that she could slap herself.

But for some reason she had enjoyed it. He patting her to sleep was one of the soothing experiences she had had since the nightmares started. Usually when she tried to fall back asleep after she had a nightmare, it was either she couldn't fall asleep, or she would start having nightmares again. And yet… she didn't have any last night after she asked Nico to stay. She slept so well last night; she hadn't had such an experience in months.

She set her bowl of cereal down on the kitchen counter, and tucked her hair behind her ears, before pouring some fresh milk into the bowl of Lucky Charms, and grabbing a spoon. She quickly sat down on the couch in the living room and switched on the television, tuning into Cartoon Network to watch the weekly episode of three of her favourite cartoons, Young Justice, Teen Titans and Winx Club. Don't judge her, but she really loved superheroes and fairies.

§

Nico was sitting at his and Rachel's usual booth in Artie's, and he was busy dipping his teabag up and down in the cheap cup of tea he ordered. His leg was bouncing up and down, as it always did when he was getting impatient while waiting for someone or something. It had been a horrible habit of his since he was a young boy. His sister had tried to make him stop doing it all the time, but he never listened and she soon gave up on trying to cure the habit.

He was keeping his eyes fixed on what was happening outside the window he was sitting next to, and was staring at everybody who came within a five metre radius of Artie's, trying to see if he was here yet. Nico breathed out deeply, and turned back to look at his tea, giving up on looking out through the rain.

Suddenly a tall man with sun-streaked blond hair and a rather perfect face walked in through the door. He was wearing a pair of sunglasses (rather stupid, Nico thought, considering the rain) and a trenchcoat which was dripping wet. The man made his way to Nico's table, and sat down opposite him.

"Apollo."

"di Angelo." Apollo nodded in return.

Apollo took off his sunglasses and tucked them on his button up shirt. "So, why have you called me here today? I personally prefer to be in Sunny California right now as compared to this dreary weather in New York. Coffee, please." He said as a waitress came forward to take his order.

Nico internally rolled his eyes. "I've asked you to come here because of Rachel."

Her name was the thing that had caught his attention. Nico had Iris-messaged Apollo this morning before he went out. He had said it was urgent and that it concerned Rachel, but he had refused to elaborate on what had happened. Rachel was possibly the only thing that cared about enough to see Nico about. Nico was about the best protection he could have for Rachel while outside of camp, considering Rachel refused to have a bodyguard.

"Yeah, I know. You told me. What about her? Did something happen to her?" Apollo tried to glare at Nico menacingly. "I swear, if-"

Nico cut Apollo off. "No, nothing really bad happened to her. But I just thought I should tell you that Rachel has been having nightmares of her phobias continuously since the start of this year."

The waitress who took Apollo's order just now came back to their table and Nico stopped talking. She took the paper cup from the tray she was balancing on her left hand, and placed it on the table. Apollo nodded with a charming smile on his face, and then winked at the waitress before thanking her. Nico noticed that she started to blush a little, and cleared his throat as the waitress walked away.

"And I suppose it might help to let you know that whenever Rachel has these nightmares I can feel another being in the room with her. A being… if I didn't get it wrong, from the Underworld."

Apollo took a sip from his cup, and looked at Nico. "What do you think it is? A ghost? A monster?"

Nico shook his head. "I don't know, but it's highly unlikely for ghosts or monsters to be able to escape from the Underworld, unless Hades gives them permission to do so, which is also impossible. I've already asked Annabeth to help me with it, but she hasn't given me an answer yet."

Apollo nodded. "All right. I'll pay a visit to Rachel later this week, and I'll try to find out what it is. Tell me if anything happens."

"Sure. And thanks. For coming to see me." Nico replied.

Apollo nodded again. "No problem. Anything for my Oracle." He walked out the door, and headed towards an alley behind the restaurant, where a flash of bright golden light burst out.

Nico stood up, pulled his black leather biker jacket tighter round himself, and left the place, before shadow-travelling back to the apartment.

§

Rachel was watching the new episode of Young Justice, when the doorbell rang. Rachel reluctantly tore her eyes away from the screen, and went to open the door, rolling her eyes as she went. "God damn it, Nico, can't you get into the apartment by yourself through your other special means? I'm watching Young Justice now for gods' sa-" Rachel stopped when she realised who was at the door.

"Oh, it's you." Rachel tried to put a smile on her face but she failed.

Ruby looked at her with a similar unsmiling expression on her face, and looked around the apartment. "I'm looking for Nico."

Rachel frowned, and said, "He's not at home at the moment."

"Oh," Ruby replied.

They stood there for a few awkward moments before Rachel sighed and asked, "Do you want to come in and wait? I'm pretty sure he'll be back soon enough." She held the door wider, and waited for Ruby to walk in, before shutting it.

"Make yourself at home," Rachel muttered, before returning to watching her cartoon, ignoring Ruby, who sat down awkwardly on the armchair next to Rachel's couch.

The two women sat there silently, and were watching Artemis and Robin arguing in an air vent, when Nico shadow-travelled in through the darkest corner of the kitchen. When he arrived, Rachel got the familiar chills whenever he shadow-travelled near her, but she didn't turn around. If she did, Ruby might know that he didn't enter the apartment through the front door.

When Nico noticed Ruby's red-streaked hair, he reeled back a little in shock, before making a decision. He quickly and silently shadow-travelled back out again, and into the corridor right outside of the apartment. He walked to the door and opened it, deliberately shutting the door a little noisily. Both Rachel and Ruby turned around, and Nico plopped down on the other side of the couch from Rachel.

As he did, he took off his jacket, and put it on the arm of the couch next to him, before running his hands through his damp hair. The awkward tension of the situation was too overwhelming, and Ruby walked towards Nico, saying, "Babe, you should take a shower first. You're all wet; you might get a cold." Nico sighed, before standing up and taking Ruby's hand as he did. Rachel sniffed and resolutely ignored them as they went, trying to continue watching her cartoon.

§

An hour had passed, and Nico and Ruby were still cooped up in his room. Rachel had finished her cartoons, and had taken a shower and was about to head into her art studio, when the doorbell rang for the second time in a day. Rachel groaned, and dragged her fingers through her damp hair. Gods, why is today such a popular day for visitors?

She dragged herself to the front door and opened it, hearing giggling and laughing as she did. She sighed.

Percy and Annabeth were here. She opened the door a little wider, and hugged them both before heading into the apartment, and Percy and Annabeth walked in, Percy closing the door as he did. Rachel looked at them, and spoke. "So, why are you guys here? If I didn't remember wrongly, we were supposed to meet only this Friday. Do you miss me that much?" Rachel grinned at them.

Percy rolled his eyes and ruffled Rachel's hair. "No, we're just here because number one, we couldn't call thanks to the whole 'telephones are basically bright glowing neon signs that say MONSTER CHOW' thing, and number two, we were on our way to the cinema, so we decided to come and tell you and Nico that we can't make it this Friday. We have plans." He looked at Annabeth.

Rachel smiled at them knowingly. "Plans, eh?" She raised her eyebrows playfully.

Annabeth elbowed her. "Not those, Rach, gods, what are you thinking? No, we have to attend a wedding dinner of an important relative of Percy's."

"Ah well, it's fine. You two will be having fun and I'll be all by myself." Rachel sang the famous line of Celine Dion's song All By Myself. Percy and Annabeth laughed, and Annabeth replied, "Well, Nico can keep you company. I mean isn't that all he's useful for?" Annabeth giggled.

Rachel shrugged her shoulders. "Nah. He has his girlfriend to keep company. Speaking of whom is currently in the Nico's room with him. Didn't you say you wanted to meet the girl?" Rachel smiled.

"True, I do want to meet the first girl that Nico has managed to get since like he was born." Percy said. Rachel was about to stand up from the couch and head towards Nico's room, when he came out with Ruby trailing behind. _Speak of the devil's son and he appears, _Rachel thought.

Percy smacked Nico on the shoulder and grinned. "Haven't seen you in a long time and for the first time ever you get a girlfriend! I am SO proud of you." He ruffled Nico's hair, even though Nico was almost five inches taller than him. Then he turned to behind Nico and looked Ruby up and down, before winking at her and turning to Nico. "Nice girl you got there, Nico. Tell me, how on earth did you get such a gorgeous girl to be your girlfriend? I mean, I knew you when you were ten, and trust me, you weren't such a pretty boy back then."

"Shut up, Percy." Nico muttered.

Annabeth elbowed Percy in the ribs, and smiled graciously at Ruby like she was a mother welcoming her daughter-in-law into the family. She took Ruby's hands and put her arm around her shoulders. "Ignore Percy. He has a brain made of seaweed and kelp. Nico's like our baby brother and you're like the first girlfriend he's had in years."

Nico blushed, and Ruby stuttered, "Well, uh, that's nice to know." She laughed and looked at Nico, grabbing his hand as she did. Annabeth let go of her, and walked back to Percy, asking, "Hey, Seaweed Brain, how about we stay for lunch with these three instead? You and Nico can cook."

Percy sighed and looked at Nico, who shrugged silently and said, "Whatever. I don't mind." Percy nodded. "All right, but we'll need to get some groceries. God knows what kind of shit you have in that refrigerator of Rachel's."

Rachel gasped indignantly. "That's my beloved baby you're talking about! It houses my favourite food!"

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Like a tiny little eensy weensy cube of blue cheese? Yeah, great favourite foods you have there."

Rachel huffed indignantly again, and crossed her arms across her chest. "Fine. Whatever you say. Now go have fun cooking for us girls. We're hungry and hungry girls are definitely not what you want on your hands."

Percy looked at Nico with a mock frightened expression on his face. "She's right. We gotta go, like now."

Nico chuckled and grabbed Percy by the arm, marching him out the front door, before dragging him through the shadows in the corridor.

Annabeth looked at both Ruby and Rachel. "So, who's up for some gossip and hot chocolate?"

§

Nico felt the familiar sensation of the shadows pulling him in, and arrived near the supermarket with Percy holding tightly onto his arm. When the shadows let go of them, Percy keeled over and gripped his stomach tightly. "Oh gods, I feel horrible. This is why I hate shadow-travelling."

"You get used to it." Nico laughed. Revenge for what Percy said just now was totally sweet.

He waited for Percy to get over it, before heading towards the stack of baskets located at the entrance of the supermarket, and grabbing one. Percy nudged one as they headed towards the seafood section of the supermarket.

"So, what's up with you and Ruby?"

"Don't you already know? I mean aren't we girlfriend and boyfriend?" Nico replied to Percy's question as he glanced quickly over the fish and chose one which looked fresh.

"Yes, but do you really love her?" Percy asked.

Nico paused for a little while, before resuming his picking of seafood. "Yes, I do… To a certain extent."

"To a certain extent?" Percy raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I don't know. It's just that… It's just I'm conflicted."

"Conflicted? Yeah, I can tell." Percy snorted.

"I mean, I loved Ruby. And I still love her. But I don't know. Shit, feelings are complicated."

"You sure? Figuring out your feelings isn't all that tough you know. Ruby isn't the one you love, Nico. Someone else is. Have you seen the way you look at her? You care about her a lot, Nico. Both Annabeth and I know you do. Besides, Ruby comes off to me as a little too snobby."

Nico glanced at Percy. "Are you talking about who I think you're talking about?"

"If you're thinking about a certain Rachel Elizabeth Dare, then yes."

"But she and I are just best friends. Nothing more, nothing less."

Percy looked at Nico as they grabbed all the ingredients they needed and headed to the cashier. "Are you really sure, Nico?"

Nico didn't answer Percy's question, but it echoed around in his mind.

_Are you really sure?_

* * *

**A/N: WINX CLUB I'M SOBBING I added it in because I'm currently rewatching it now, and I figured it would be funny if I put it in. :D don't blame or judge me please, because Winx Club was a huge part of my ultimately girly childhood whoops. Thanks for the new follows and reviews, I really appreciated them. Also this chapter was inspired by kamberroxs1998, because she wanted a chapter where Percy and Annabeth met Ruby. Sorry for the really stupid meeting tho D: it's kind of awkward and stuff but I don't know. More will be coming in the next chapter though so.** **Sorry for not updating; it's just that I've been busy lately (not really, but) also I've been going to play L4D with my friends pretty sure we're getting addicted omg this should stop considering school is starting in a few weeks and I still have to finish my homework creys. Anyway I had this chapter half-written for quite some time already, and I thought I might as well finish this and upload it. I hope you enjoyed this, and reviews will be highly appreciated! :D**


	10. Chapter 10

_**Title:**__ Stuck In Her Nightmares_

**Chapter:** 10 (approx. 2394 words)

**Rating:** K

**Characters/Pairings:** Nico di Angelo, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase | Nico/Rachel, Mild Percabeth

**Summary:** Rachel's worst nightmares come true, and it is up to Nico to save her. Will true love conquer all, or will Rachel die in the hands of evil?

**Disclaimer:** lol would be good if I owned PJO I would buy so many things

**Author's Notes:** more detailed author's notes at the bottom

* * *

"So, there was this one time when Nico actually played a prank on Percy where he literally kept Percy trapped in the ground, and Percy had to remain there for a day, unable to move anywhere." Annabeth laughed. "Percy couldn't move anywhere, and I actually had to bring his food and water for him to eat and drink! He couldn't go to the toilet at all, and trust me, Percy not being able to go to the toilet is not such a pretty sight." Annabeth laughed again. "Albeit a really funny one." She paused and added as an afterthought.

Rachel started to snicker at the memory, shaking her head. She remembered Nico using his powers to trap Percy's legs in the ground, and the earth around his legs were frozen solid. Percy had pulled a long face the entire day, trying to ignore the giggles and snickers and occasional taunts from the other campers. He had tried to use water to make the earth soft, but it wouldn't budge; Nico's powers had become really powerful over the years. After all, he is one of the Big Three's kids. Percy had eaten while standing up; he couldn't sit down for the earth froze right up to the middle of his thighs. Annabeth had gotten a little worried and was trying to get Nico to stop the prank, but Rachel had personally found it absolutely funny.

Ruby seemed to be enjoying the girl time. She didn't ask how Percy had gotten trapped in the ground and couldn't get back up, and Rachel personally hoped that she wouldn't, because it would be really hard and rather awkward to explain the whole situation to a mortal who had no idea that demigods and Greek gods existed and probably didn't believe in them. Ruby looked amused at the anecdotes about the boys Rachel and Annabeth were reminiscing over, but she didn't seem particularly into it. Ruby had been throwing her a few furtive glances which Rachel was trying to avoid. The one time she had caught Rachel's eye, a pleading look had come across her face. Rachel was about to tell them another story about them, when Percy and Nico walked in through the front door carrying a few big bags of groceries.

"Wow, you two look so much like a gay couple living together who just came back from the supermarket after shopping for food to cook a romantic meal together," Rachel shook her head and grinned.

Annabeth involuntarily let out a giggle, and Percy rolled his eyes and Nico groaned. "Stop with the gay jokes, Rachel. I know Nico and I are a perfect couple, you don't need to be jealous." Percy winked at Nico jokingly. Nico smiled and blew him a kiss from the other corner of the kitchen where he was unpacking the groceries from the paper bags. The girls laughed, and Nico spoke. "Oh by the way, Rachel, I bought some extra food. I thought we needed it." He looked at Rachel, who smiled. "Thanks, Nico. But I can't cook to save my life, remember?"

Nico looked like he just remembered something. "Oh yeah." He turned back to his groceries. "Eh, don't worry. I'll cook for you." Rachel's smile grew wider into a grin. Annabeth noticed that Ruby looked a little peeved at this, and her hands clenched tightly around her mug. Annabeth turned to Percy, and asked, "What are you going to cook for us today?"

"Ah ah ah, it's a surprise!" Percy exclaimed in an exaggerated tone and accent, which apparently was an inside joke between him and Annabeth, because Annabeth laughed while the other three looked at each other stupidly. Percy put on an apron, took a ladle, and pointed it at them.

"Now, you girls go out to the living room, and we'll settle lunch for you."

§

Nico put the finishing touches on the five plates of lasagna that he had cooked, and balanced them all on his arms, before placing them around the dining table on the five different coloured placemats. He untied and took off his apron with one hand, and hung the apron up on one of the hooks lining the kitchen wall.

"Hey girls, the food's ready." Percy shouted to them as he placed the dessert he had made into the refrigerator. The girls got up almost immediately, and Rachel and Annabeth practically ran there.

"What did you cook? Oh gods, your special occasion beef lasagna? YES!" Rachel exclaimed as she took a deep sniff. She quickly sat down on one of the chairs.

"You guessed it." Nico replied as he sat down in between Rachel and Ruby, smiling. Annabeth looked like she couldn't wait to dig in, and Ruby looked around confused. "Why? Is it really that good?"

Three heads swiveled round to stare at her with shocked expressions on their faces. Rachel, Percy and Annabeth gave each other knowing glances, and Rachel nodded. She ran into her room and got a video camera. Nico shook his head and sighed, rolling his eyes. "Not again, guys. Why do you have to do this EVERY SINGLE TIME someone tries my lasagna for the first time?"

"Because, Nico, people's expressions when they first try your lasagna will always be priceless. Besides, we could always use more entries in our collection of "Expressions of People Trying Chef di Angelo's Beef Lasagna For The First Time" videos." Percy explained.

Rachel brisk walked out of her room holding a camera, and threw it to Percy, who was sitting opposite Ruby. He switched it on, and held it up at face level. Annabeth passed Ruby her fork. "Okay go for it." Percy said as he pressed a button that started the recording.

Ruby looked at all of their expectant faces and stuck her fork into the lasagna, scooping up a forkful of food. She raised the fork and put it into her mouth. Rachel and Percy looked so excited. Ruby chewed a little, and her mouth froze, her eyes widening.

Ruby chewed some more, and then swallowed it, before speaking. "Oh. My. God. This is the best. Shit, Nico, you never told me you could cook this well." She playfully punched Nico on the arm.

The others cheered, and Percy put down the camera before digging in together with the other two girls. "Wow, I've missed this. I haven't eaten this for so long, ugh. Living off Annabeth's cooking is an unhealthy lifestyle." He joked as he put another forkful of lasagna in his mouth together with some salad.

Annabeth smiled at Percy sweetly. "Don't forget I have knives, honey."

Percy smiled back at her. "Don't forget I have powers, baby."

Rachel and Nico groaned. "Gods, get a room! We're trying to eat here."

Percy and Annabeth laughed, until a voice piped up. "What powers are you talking about?"

All of them froze. Annabeth was the first to calm down, and she spoke. "Oh, it's nothing, Ruby, just an inside joke between us four."

Percy spoke too. "Y-yeah, we used to love to play Power Rangers, you know. When we were kids. At camp. Where we met. Each other."

Ruby looked at all of them suspiciously. The four of them were trying to put as much food as they could into their mouths to avoid speaking. "Okay then, whatever you say." She shrugged her shoulders slightly, and put one bite of the lasagna into her mouth, before speaking again.

"So, Rachel, do you have a boyfriend?" Rachel tensed up a little. " I'm pretty sure someone as gorgeous as you would have countless suitors lining all the way up to Times Square." Rachel relaxed again, and looked up at Ruby.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do." Percy choked on the water he was drinking and Nico and Annabeth's heads swiveled round to stare at Rachel. Rachel calmly continued eating. "What? Why do you all look so surprised? I met him in college at the start of this year, and his name's Brandon." She took another bite of lasagna, before taking a sip of water.

"B-but, you aren't supposed to have a boyfriend." Nico stuttered.

"_He's_ going to kill you! And chop you up into little tiny pieces and feed you to the dogs!" Percy exclaimed.

Annabeth was shooting a death glare at Rachel. Rachel paused, looked around the table at all of them, and laughed. "You guys really believed that? Gods, I was just joking! No, I don't really have a boyfriend, if you must know, Ruby." Percy breathed a sigh of relief, and clapped his right hand to his chest.

Nico continued eating after letting out a small sigh. For a moment there he thought Rachel really got a boyfriend without him knowing. Gods, she loved joking with them so much he was actually pretty sure the three of them should have known better than to believe her. The others started chatting incessantly, and Nico quipped in occasionally. But Rachel got distracted as she saw how Ruby was acting all lovey dovey towards Nico. Her mind wandered, and she remembered something she saw the previous morning.

_She was at the nearest train station as she was on the way to school that morning, and she had put on her sunglasses so people wouldn't see her sleep-ridden eyes. She bought some coffee from the Starbucks about a street away from the station, she sat there at one of the tables for a little while. When she felt more perked up, she continued walking to the train station, but on the way there something caught her eye._

_A girl and a boy who looked about her age were kissing in an alley she was walking past. The red streaked hair, the red nails. She recognized the girl. It was Ruby._

_But the boy… It wasn't Nico. Rachel rubbed her eyes under her shades, and opened them wider. Ruby was kissing another boy. She was still trying to process what she had just witnessed, and perhaps she had stayed there for a minute too long. Ruby had spotted her. Rachel let out a tiny gasp, and quickly turned to her right and quickly walked away. The last thing she saw as she turned away, was Ruby pushing the boy away, and looking like she was about to chase after Rachel. Rachel couldn't concentrate on anything for the whole day, and she was distracted from it for a while in the night due to her nightmares, but Ruby coming here just dug it up again. _Huh, she isn't trying to plead with me not to tell Nico, _she had thought. She had been cordial and polite to Ruby all day; she felt that she shouldn't be too obvious about the fact that she was distraught. Nico was sharp, especially about Rachel; he would be able to tell in a second if something was bothering her. And she was still considering if she should tell Nico about it._

Once they finished dinner, they quickly ate the dessert that Percy had made, and after helping to clear up for a bit, Ruby, Percy and Annabeth left. Nico helped Rachel clean the dishes, and Nico spoke. "I see you and Ruby are on rather good terms."

Rachel continued cleaning the dishes as if she didn't hear anything. Nico frowned, and continued. "Rachel." When she didn't answer again, he repeated her name again.

"Rachel."

Rachel jumped a little in shock, before relaxing again as she realised that it was Nico calling her. "Are you alright, Red? You seem a little distraught."

"Yeah… I'm fine. I'm just a little tired, is all." She paused for a little while as Nico turned back to what he was doing. "Nico…"

"What?"

Rachel hesitated, and Nico turned towards her as he stopped what he was doing. "Rachel? DO you want to tell me what's going on?"

Rachel took a deep breath as she made a decision. Now or never. Better Nico finds out from me than anybody else. "It's about Ruby."

"What about her?" Nico looked curious.

"The thing is… yesterday when I was walking to the metro, I saw Ruby… and another guy kissing in an alley." Rachel looked down after she said it, afraid of facing Nico's reaction.

Nico didn't say anything, and Rachel looked up at him. "Nico?"

Nico remained silent, and Rachel was about to speak again until Nico did. "Are you sure you saw what you saw?"

Rachel remained silent for a while, before answering. "Yes."

"It can't be."

"I know what I saw, Nico. It was Ruby."

"Rach-"

"You probably don't want to believe it, but I'm your best friend. I wouldn't lie to you about a thing like this. I saw her cheating on you and I'm being serious here."

"Rachel, are you absolutely sure?"

"YES!" Rachel exclaimed.

Nico laughed. "Wow, Rachel, I always knew you were jealous, but I ever thought you would be so jealous to the point where you would try to break Ruby and I up."

"What? I'm not! Why would I? I'm your best friend!"

"Just stop it, Rachel. Just because you aren't allowed to date anybody, it doesn't mean that you can just get jealous or envious and break up others so they can't have any happiness."

Rachel let out an exasperated gasp of breath. "You really think that way, Nico? Fine! If you don't believe me, then forget I ever said anything! I know what I saw was correct, and Ruby is going to hurt you. I just didn't want you to get hurt, and it was only because you are my best friend." She narrowed her eyes as she shook her head and put down the plate she was holding angrily, before walking away quickly.

Nico breathed in deeply, closing his eyes. Shit. He had made Rachel angry again. What he had said just now about her being jealous was completely stupid. He pinched the bridge of his nose, and tried to go after Rachel, but before he could leave the kitchen he heard Rachel's door slammed shut loudly. He sighed, and continued to do the dishes. He should apologize for saying those hurtful things to her; he had always made the concessions first. He knew Rachel wouldn't lie about things like this, but deep down inside?

He just didn't want to believe it.

* * *

**A/N: wow shitty filler chapter. D: I'm sorry for taking so long to complete this, I was having writer's bloc k and I only have about one and a half weeks left of my holidays before school starts again, and I have a shitload of homework to do I'm probably going to die of stress. DD: this will probably be one of the last chapters I post, but I'll try to post as often as I can once school starts. The schedule won't be regular though; I'll be pretty busy next year because it's my third year of secondary school so yeah, and I'll only be writing whenever I'm free. Anyway enough explanations, and reviews would bt rather delightful, thank you :D**


	11. Chapter 11

_**Title:**__ Stuck In Her Nightmares_

**Chapter:** 11 (approx. 3255 words)

**Rating:** K

**Characters/Pairings:** Nico di Angelo, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase | Nico/Rachel, Mild Percabeth

**Summary:** Rachel's worst nightmares come true, and it is up to Nico to save her. Will true love conquer all, or will Rachel die in the hands of evil?

**Disclaimer:** lol would be good if I owned PJO I would buy so many things

**Author's Notes:** more detailed author's notes at the bottom

* * *

For the next few days Rachel resolutely ignored Nico, and he was trying not make her any angrier. He knew that he shouldn't have doubted her, and he was trying his hardest to make amends and to appease her. He had tried everything – buying chocolate (her favourite) for Rachel, letting her watch whatever channels she wanted on the television, cooking gourmet dishes for her every day, but Rachel refused to budge.

Nico sighed as the water from the shower head above him splashed down on him. He had tried to confront Ruby about what Rachel had told him, but she was busy at the time. Ruby had invited Nico to her apartment to have dinner, and Nico had accepted. Why not, he had thought. They could talk like normal and civilized people while they ate. But when he had finished classes an hour early and had bought Thai takeaway and some wine to Ruby's apartment, he had let himself in and came upon a sight he didn't ever want to remember again.

He had seen Ruby and another man kissing. Just like Rachel had said. On the couch. Half naked, He still remembered what exactly happened after that.

_A flash of anger had come over him, and he spitefully spouted, "Having fun?"_

_Ruby and the man jumped apart in shock, and Nico recognized the guy as Brian from his Greek class. Ruby's eyes widened when she saw Nico standing there. "Nico, it's not what it seems-"_

"_What? Seems to me like you were having a lot of fun with Brian chewing each other's faces off," he threw both Ruby and Brian a dirty glance. "Half naked, I might add."_

_Ruby looked a little desperate. "No, Nico, stop, please="_

_Nico had thrown down the food he was holding on to the table, and held up his hands in surrender. "You know what? I'm done with you, Ruby. I can't believe I ever even risked jeopardizing my relationship with Rachel just for you. Man, I wish I had believed her when she told me about you and him. I'm out, Ruby. We're over."_

_Ruby had tried to stop him as Nico marched out of the apartment, but Nico had shoved her hand of his arm. He heard Brian saying something to her as he left, but he didn't care. Ugh, he should have believed Rachel when she told him. He kicked the lamp post at the side of the street angrily. He wasn't upset or sad or even remotely heartbroken at being cheated on. He was really angry at Ruby for cheating on him, but most of all, he was angriest at himself for hurting Rachel._

Nico turned off the shower, and quickly dried himself and his hair off before putting on some clothes. He looked at the clock on the table at the side of his bed. It was already 11 pm. He hung the towel on the back of his chair, and was walking out to the kitchen to grab some leftover takeout , when he overheard Rachel on the phone in her room.

"What?" Nico heard as he stood outside her room.

A pause from Rachel, and Nico watched as her face fell into a tortured expression. She swallowed, and nodded, before seeming to realise that the person on the other line couldn't see her and saying, "All right, thank you," before hanging up. Rachel's knees couldn't seem to support her body any longer, and she crumpled to the floor in a heap. Nico immediately walked in.

"Rachel, what happened?" He asked as he crouched his tall and muscular body next to Rachel's petite one. He hesitated as he was about to put his hand on Rachel's back, but decided to go for it in the end. He could hear sobs coming from Rachel, and he was getting a little worried. He internally sighed in relief as Rachel didn't shrug his hand away from her back.

Nothing much ever made Rachel cry. Not when any of the campers from Camp Half-Blood died, not when her mum separated from her dad, not when she had been dumped by a boyfriend (she had told him about her first boyfriend when she was 11) and she certainly never ever cried in front of Nico. This was first time she did caused by reasons other than her nightmares, and quite frankly, Nico had no idea what to do.

He tried, as comfortingly as he could, to gently pat her on the back, but did nothing further. Rachel was probably was still angry at him. She might be distraught, but she still had sense. He decided to wait a little while to let Rachel calm down enough to speak to him.

When Rachel's sobs finally died down, she spoke. "Daddy's in the hospital."

"Why?" Nico replied.

Rachel sat up a little straighter and wiped her eyes using the back of her hands, and Nico tucked a strand of her mussed up hair behind her ear tenderly. "He got into a car accident, and he's in a coma. A-and he might never wake up. Ever." Rachel's lower lip trembled slightly as she was about to start crying again, and Nico pulled her in towards him, enveloping his long arms around her.

He placed one hand on the back of her head, murmuring, "It's going to be okay, Rach. He will wake up soon." Nico couldn't bear to see Rachel so upset. She might not show it, but she really did love her father. And she wouldn't ever want anything bad to happen to Warren. He held her tightly against him until Rachel stopped crying, but she had already fallen asleep. Nico picked Rachel up bridal style, and Rachel unconsciously cuddled into Nico's chest. He put Rachel down as gently as he could on her king-sized bed, and brought her duvet up to her chest, like someone tucking a child or a baby in.

Perhaps he was a little too noisy, or Rachel was a really light sleeper (which she was), because as he was about to walk to the door of Rachel's bedroom to head back to his own, Rachel's voice drifted from the back of the room. "I'm still angry at you, you know."

Nico started, and winced as he heard what Rachel said. He should have known. "I'm really sorry, Rach. I broke up with Ruby, after I walked in on her… with the other guy. I shouldn't have doubted you, and I shouldn't have said those stupid things to you. I'm really, really sorry. Will you forgive me?"

Rachel remained silent. Nico continued speaking. "And if your nightmares are bothering you, you can come to my room and sleep with me in my bed. If you want, I mean. But not in that way, though." Rachel continued to remain silent, and Nico cringed at what he just said, mentally slapping himself for not thinking this through before saying it. He quickly cleared his throat, before leaving the room and shutting the door behind him. He groaned once he was outside Rachel's room and thought about how he was going to nickname himself Stupid for the rest of his life as he headed towards his own room.

Nico took off the t-shirt he was wearing and threw it down on to the floor at the foot of his bed. He crawled into bed and rolled to the left side of it. For some reason he had never been able to sleep as well on the right sides of beds as compared to when he slept on the left. He shut his eyes. His mind started to nag at him about what he said just now, and he was trying to get it to shut up, until he finally fell asleep.

Rachel didn't know what to say to Nico after he revealed that he had broken up with Ruby, and she was just utterly speechless when it came to Nico offering his bed to her. IF she wanted, he had said. With much emphasis on those three words. She decided to think about it in the morning, and luckily for her, she was exhausted for the day, so the worries about her father didn't stop her from falling asleep.

Her being exhausted didn't stop her from having nightmares though. She had been having the same dream repeatedly, but phobias were phobias, and you would never truly be unafraid of them if you had horrible memories of what caused them embedded deeply into your mind. There were a few special elements sometimes if Rachel had something on her mind, and this time Warren Dare appeared in her nightmares, being dragged away by a hooded figure into the fiery pits of the Underworld. The tortured screams of the billions of burning souls were getting louder and louder, and Rachel could stand it no longer.

Rachel's eyes snapped open as she felt her body and hair drenched in cold sweat. Her heart was pumping so hard, and she was biting on her lower lip so hard to stop herself from crying. She tasted the rust and saltiness of the blood from her lips, and got out of her bed. She gingerly padded her way down the corridor to the second last room along it, and gently pushed the unlocked door open. She stood in the doorway for a little while, hesitating. Should she do this? But every single time she closes her eyes, she gets all these images flashing through her mind-

Rachel whimpered as she remembered what she saw in her dream just now. She quickly walked forward, and she stood at the right side of Nico's bed, and gingerly put one leg on the bed, before slowly putting her entire body weight on it. She slowly lay down, as gently as she could, so she wouldn't wake Nico up. Hope it helps, she thought. It had once before, maybe it will again. She tried to cling to the side of the bed as far as she could, but it felt uncomfortable, so she moved in a little closer, and continued to take deep breaths to calm her still palpitating heart, before closing her tired eyes to try and get some more sleep.

Nico had felt the slight shift in weight on his bed, and he opened his eyes slowly. He saw Rachel's fiery red hair spread across the unused pillow on his bed, and he smiled slightly. So she had decided to forgive him after all. He knew that she had forgiven him, because if she hadn't, she wouldn't accept his offer even if it cost her her life. He watched as she tried to move as far away from him as possible, and then suppressed a grin as he watched her move closer into the middle of the bed when she failed to get comfortable at the side. When he heard Rachel finally settle down and take a few deep breaths, he shut his eyes too.

The next day, Nico woke up to a mop of red hair tickling his nose. He tried to bring his left hand up to his nose to attempt to rub it before he sneezed, but it was being weighed down by something. Rachel had moved in her sleep, and was now lying on Nico's left arm, her back to his chest. Rachel's arms were folded in towards her as she slept, but her right hovered dangerously close to Nico's left. Nico sighed and lifted his right arm to do the job instead.

Rachel moaned softly in her sleep, and her hand moved up just a bit, before grabbing and holding on to Nico's little finger. Nico breathed in sharply, and wrapped his other four long fingers around Rachel's small fist. He lifted his right hand again and smoothed Rachel's messy hair down into one thick lock, and gently pushed her long fringe away from her face, pushing it to the back together with the rest of her hair. _She really is beautiful_, he thought.

Rachel, a light sleeper, felt cold fingertips come into contact with the warm skin of her forehead, and stirred. She opened her eyes. She moaned a little as she stretched out her arms and legs, before she realised that she was holding onto Nico's pinky. She quickly let go of it, and embarrassedly turned around on the bed to face him. She looked up at Nico, who smiled. "Had a great night, Red?"

Rachel rolled her eyes playfully as she listened to what Nico said. She sat up on the bed, crossing her legs. "So I see it's back to my coloured nickname now, eh, Dead Boy? I haven't forgotten about what you said to me."

Nico sat up too, and leaned forward to look at Rachel. "You aren't mad at me anymore, right?" His face had a slightly worried expression on it, and his dark eyebrows furrowed together slightly, and Rachel laughed. "If I were, would I still be here talking to you?" Nico heaved a small sigh in relief, and watched as Rachel walked to the window in the room.

"It's snowing."

Nico looked out the window from where he was sitting on the bed. "Really? How come it didn't feel cold at all? We should have been freezing! The heater wasn't even switched on!"

Rachel turned around. "It was switched on, idiot. You forgot, the heaters here are automated; they switch themselves on to the default temperature when the thermometers sense that the temperature outside the apartment is below what it usually is."

Nico blinked stupidly. "Oh yeah. Right."

Rachel covered her mouth as she yawned. "We should have breakfast now. I want a nice warm cup of hot chocolate, and some scrambled eggs with sausage and bacon, please." She turned around and grinned innocently at Nico, who rolled his eyes at her (very obvious) implication as to what she wanted him to do.

He lifted his legs out of the bed and walked out to the kitchen, grabbing the shirt he threw on to the floor the previous night and putting it on. He opened the refrigerator and got some eggs, bacon, and sausages. He left the bacon and sausages to soak in some water to defrost, and got around to making the hot chocolate.

Rachel had followed him out of the room, and was sitting at the kitchen island looking much like a little child waiting excitedly for her breakfast. "Oh my god I've waited for this day to arrive for ages. Being angry at people is tough." She wrinkled her nose as she took a sip from the mug of hot chocolate that Nico had placed in front of her before moving on to frying the bacon and sausages. Nico turned around. "So you were pretending to be angry at me for so long?"

Rachel thought for a second. "Nah, I was truly angry at you. Don't exaggerate, Dead Boy. A few days isn't long. Besides, I never knew you needed me by your side so badly." She waved her hand around as she walked towards the stove at the corner of the kitchen where Nico was frying a few strips of bacon. She used two fingertips to grab a small piece of stray bacon in the frying pan, and quickly threw it into her mouth. She chewed it, and quickly swallowed.

"Ah, shit, I accidentally burned my tongue."

"You are so going to get throat cancer if you keep doing that every single day."

"Aw man. Then you've got to stop making your food so irresistibly good. Temptations are hard to resist."

"No way. Why don't you try and restrain yourself, Red?"

"How about no?" Rachel playfully ducked to Nico's right where the wall was, and started poking him in the ribs. She knew it was his sensitive spot; he couldn't stop squirming if you started to tickle or poke his ribs. Nico put the spatula he was holding down, and switched off the fire as he tried to avoid Rachel's incessant poking.

Rachel was giggling as she did so, and Nico was trying to swat her hands away from him with his own. "Oh gods, Rach, stop, damn it!" Rachel laughed, declared "NEVER" and continued to do so. Nico started to run towards the living room, and Rachel followed, tackling him on to the couch and straddling him, she begun a more rigorous round of poking. Nico, obviously much stronger than Rachel, managed to flip them around, and clamped her arms tightly towards the couch. Rachel continued to struggle a little, her smile fading slowly as she looked at Nico.

Nico was gazing intently into Rachel's bright green eyes, and Rachel into Nico's dark ones. Nico let go of Rachel's arms and pressed his arms down into his couch to support his weight.

Rachel was, needless to say, surprised, when Nico started looking at her so tenderly and lovingly. She had noticed the way Nico looked at her before, like he would just want to grab her and snog her sensually until she was senseless, but it was most likely just her imagination when she felt really sexually deprived, and having a fully grown male (albeit really attractive) for a best friend who lived in an apartment with you was no help at all. She had also noticed the small little actions he had done, like tucking her hair behind her ear for no apparent reason. Every single time he touched her, she had had a tingle go up her entire body, but she had always dismissed it as due to Nico's cold fingers. She realised that all those tingles up her spine weren't because Nico's hands were cold; they were because she enjoyed them. Yes, she, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, enjoyed the small but tender touches of her best friend, Nico di Angelo.

She never noticed those tiny little freckles at the top of his nose before. She never noticed how his eyes were a really dark shade of black but they had lightly-coloured speckles that sparkled, until now. Her eyes glazed over. Nico was still looking at her, and she hitched a breath. Oh gods, she couldn't do this. This wasn't allowed. She swallowed, and she lifted her head a little and-

She heard the loud rumble of thunder that rang throughout the sky, and she silently cursed the gods in her head. _Damn Olympians. _She closed her eyes, afraid of looking at Nico, afraid of what he would do. She had never found him so gorgeous before, nor had she ever felt like kissing him so badly. She didn't even feel this with Percy when she was what, 15? And _that_ was the raging hormonal stage for her. Her heart was palpitating, and she started panting. What should she do? She couldn't just lie here forever under Nico. Oh gods, being in love with your best friend isn't-

The back of a cold hand gently caressed her cheek, and her eyes snapped open as the touch sent a wave of shock through her. She heard Nico breathe in sharply too, as he seemed to realise what he had done, and he quickly retracted his hand, before sitting up straight so he could allow Rachel to sit up too. The two of them sat there awkwardly for a moment, and Rachel was trying to calm herself down, trying to silently breathe in and out deeply to slow down her heart rate, before Nico stuttered.

"Uh, how about that breakfast now?"

* * *

**A/N: hellooooooooooo! How's that for a chapter. One of the longer chapters, and Nico is now officially broken up with Ruby and has gotten together with Rachel! I don't know if I rushed into things a little since both of them weren't showing much feelings for each other, but I figured dragging it too long was worse (because 11 chapters) so I just thought, hmm why not? Besides, Nico had already broken up with Rachel for a few days, so it's ok? I suck at writing kissing scenes, sorry, I have the worst descriptions in the universe. But anyway, hope you enjoyed it, and reviews would be highly appreciated! Thank you! :D**

**EDIT: -AND THAT WAS AN ENTIRE PLOT TWIST D: wow I hate myself so much sometimes it hurts. I edited the story and I'M REALLY SORRY OK D: it'll be soon when they get together, it's just that my friend told me that Nico should develop feelings for Rachel and know about it and be sure about before they even do anything and I agree with this so I'm editing this chapter. Absolutely sorry though, they WILL get together, and I promise that. For now, just bear with me a little, and reviews are highly appreciated, thank you :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Title:** Stuck In Her Nightmares

**Chapter:** 12 (approx. 2052 words)

**Rating:** K

**Characters/Pairings:** Nico di Angelo, Rachel Elizabeth Dare | Nico/Rachel

**Summary:** Rachel's worst nightmares come true, and it is up to Nico to save her. Will true love conquer all, or will Rachel die in the hands of evil?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Percy Jackson whoops

**Author's Notes:** I haven't updated this in so long gomenasai :-( more detailed author's notes at the bottom

* * *

Rachel was watching Nico's taut back as he cooked their breakfast in silence. She listened attentively to the sizzling of the cooking bacon as she did, and as she felt her stomach growl, the front door slammed open.

Annabeth came hopping in (yes, hopping), flinging her left hand and waving it in front of Rachel's face when she reached where Rachel was sitting. Rachel jumped a little, and tried to look at what Annabeth was trying to show her. She gave up after a second, and eventually decided on violently grabbing her hand to stop it because she knew Annabeth was never going to calm down. When she saw a small band on her fourth finger with a small blue diamond on it, she looked up at Annabeth in pleasant surprise, before the both of them started to squeal like baby pigs.

Nico winced, and turned around to the sight of two girls jumping around screaming "Oh my gods, oh my gods!" He was about to ask what had happened, when they started discussing details, saying things like "Oh gods, you are going to be my bridesmaid, along with Piper!", "Nico is so going to be the best man, oh and Jason! Jason will be one of the groomsmen!", and "We're planning to put the wedding next month; I don't know, I just want to get married as soon as possible, it doesn't even need to be fancy!"

Nico rolled his eyes, and drawled as he turned back to his bacon. "Tch, it's only a wedding, relax."

The two girls spun around at the speed of light, looking at him with their jaws wide open. "How could you say that, Nico?!"

"This is an once-in-a-lifetime thing for a girl!"

"For that, you are so going to die."

He scooped up the bacon and put them on a plate, before moving on to eggs. "So, where's Percy?"

"Oh yeah, where is he?"

"Ah, speak of the devil, there he is." Annabeth said as Percy came running in through the door, panting.

"Gods, Annabeth, how in Hades did you even run so fast?"

"Excited girls run too fast, that's for sure." Nico replied, before taking a sip of coffee from his mug.

Percy shook his head, and only went to the kitchen counter to sneak a piece of bacon into his mouth, while the girls continued their excited spazzing. Nico slapped Percy's hand away, and muttered, "Ugh, girls."

§

Nico was trying to avoid all the fussy wedding preparations by the girls (they were trying to drag him to choose the bride's bouquet; flowers, ugh, not his thing) and was heading towards the café he and Rachel usually frequented when someone tugged on his arm and pulled him down into a booth.

"Hey, listen, I need to talk."

"So… you want to talk. After cheating on me."

Ruby's face flushed and a look of despair came over her face. "Look, I'm really sorry, ok? I just really needed to apologise to you. But I'm not going to break up with Brian, because we never really loved each other. The only reason I did what I did, was because I could feel that you love Rachel more than you ever loved me."

Nico's eyes widened, and he sputtered, "Rachel and I are just best-"

Ruby cut him off. "Don't deny it, Nico. I've heard you call out her name many times while you were sleeping; I could always tell you loved her ever since we started dating. Just treat her well, ok? Don't ever let her go. I don't know if you will forgive, I hope you will. But still, thanks for hearing me out." She held onto Nico's hand gratefully for a second, and then stood up and left.

Nico sat there for a little while more, trying to stop thinking about Ruby had just said. But no matter how many pages of his textbook he flipped through, he couldn't stop thinking about it, and he eventually slammed it shut, running his hands through his black hair in frustration.

_He loved Rachel, he did, but did he really love her in that way? He would date her, in theory, he would. But the thing is, one does not simply date their best friend. What happened that morning before Annabeth announced that Percy proposed to her was nothing, right? _

He tried to look out the window, but the only thing he saw was a red-haired girl which reminded him of Rachel. Another girl wearing a paint-splattered shirt. The bookstore opposite which Rachel loved. Everything he saw out the window reminded him of Rachel. He smiled to himself, thinking about how good it would be if he could just kiss her-

Nico's eyes widened and he ran his hand through his hair one more time.

_Oh crap, he really was… in love with Rachel Elizabeth Dare. _

§

Nico didn't know what to do about his feelings for Rachel. Every single time he looked at her his heart started beating so fast it hurt, every single time he felt her join him in bed he had to resist the temptation to put his arms around her… he just didn't want to think about it anymore. All he could do was act awkwardly around Rachel to try and not reveal his true feelings to her. Even Rachel could tell that Nico was acting weird.

So when Rachel received another call from the hospital, that was it. Her face had paled a little, and she looked at Nico for some moral support when she pressed the button to pick up the call. Nico couldn't help but avoid her gaze, and Rachel's face fell a little before she went back to focusing on the call.

"Hello? Miss, are you there?"

"Ah, yeah, I am. What is it? Did something happen to my dad?" Rachel whispered nervously.

"Ah, no, Miss, Mr Warren Dare has finally awoken!"

Rachel's eyes widened, and she clapped her hand to her mouth, before smiling widely. "Really? Oh gods, thank you so much!"

She pressed the button to hang up, and Nico stood up and walked over to her, looking at her curiously despite trying his best to look as nonchalant as possible. "What's up?"

Rachel grinned even wider, and she suddenly flung her arms around Nico's neck, pulling him in for a body-crushing hug. She let go for a second, squealing "Daddy woke up! He woke up!" before hugging Nico again.

"That's great, Rachel." Nico couldn't help but give her a small smile.

"I'm so happy, I need to go see him right now!" She pulls Nico in for what seems to be another hug, but what happened next came as a huge surprise to Nico.

Rachel's lips were on his.

Nico's breath hitched for a second, and going against the rational part of him he leaned in and relaxed for the kiss. Which was right about the time when Rachel realised what she was doing was probably wrong, and opened her eyes and stepped back in shock. Her face became flushed and she looked at her feet, feeling embarrassed about what she just did. "Crap, I'm sorry. I really shouldn't have done that. I know we're just best friends, please forget that."

_Oh gods, what did she just do? Nico's only her best friend; she shouldn't have done that. Things are going to be so awkward now, oh no, shit- _

Nico had stepped forward, tipped her chin up, and pressed his own mildly cold lips on her warm ones, relishing the feel of her succulent and plump lips. Rachel tightened her arms around Nico's neck, and he snaked his around her waist, pulling her in closer to him, before they finally stopped to take a breath.

"Who said anything about not having feelings for you? I thought you were the one who didn't have any feelings for me." Nico muttered.

Rachel smiled. "So I guess we're official now?"

"I don't know if you want to, I guess."

"Of course I do, what makes you think I don't?"

"Well then I guess we are… official. But I don't want people to know about it, do you?"

"We can keep it our little secret, if you want. I don't mind as long as I get to be with you." Rachel mentally cringed at her cheesiness, but blew it off when Nico gave her another small peck on the lips.

Rachel grinned, and said, "Now, how about you go join Percy and the guys for a tuxedo fitting, and I will go for a dress fitting."

§

For the next few weeks all they were hung up over was the wedding between Percy and Annabeth. "Ugh, why do I have to go for the rehearsals?"

"Because, Nico, if you don't go for rehearsals, Annabeth is going to murder you, and you are just going to ruin it all by not knowing what to do, which will just incur Annabeth's wrath again and get you murdered a second time." Percy smiled patronizingly at Nico. "And quick, shadow travel us there. We are 5 minutes late."

Nico shuddered at the thought of Annabeth freaking out and then murdering him. "Fine." He picked up his leather jacket and wore it, before grabbing Percy's arm and pulling the two of them into the shadows. Before they knew it they were already at the ballroom where the wedding was to be held. The moment they arrived, Annabeth turned on them and exclaimed, "Where have you guys been? You're late!"

"Sweetie, relax, it's only 5 minutes. I bet the bridesmaids are still getting dressed."

"Well, yeah, but you and the guys aren't even dressed yet!"

Nico smirked. "Annabeth, chill out, guys can get dressed _so_ much faster than girls." He saunters over to the dressing room, where his tuxedo was hung on a hanger with his name labelled on it. He quickly put it on, and when he opened the door as he was buttoning up the buttons on his jacket, he came face to face with Rachel.

She was wearing a black one-shoulder dress which stopped at her knees, which hugged her mild curves nicely. He moved closer to Rachel, who blushed upon seeing Nico. "So, how do I look?"

Nico smiled. "Gorgeous."

"Thank you. And you, look gorgeous too." Rachel flushed even deeper as she arranged his collar properly, and Nico gave her a quick peck on the lips. He was about to give her another, when Piper suddenly came out of her changing room. "Hey, Rach-"

Rachel and Nico immediately jumped apart, but not before Piper had seen (and figured out) what was going on between the two of them. Her jaw dropped to the ground, and she almost started squealing. "Oh my gods, no way! You two are t-"

She had almost announced to the world that Rachel and Nico were together, but Rachel had pressed her hand to Piper's mouth just in time. "Shh, we want to keep it a secret, Piper. Don't tell anyone."

Piper's eyes widened, and she mimed zipping her mouth shut and throwing the key away. "Oh, right. Sure thing. It'll be a secret. But wow, I can feel the love. Literally. This is kind of intoxicating."

Nico rolled his eyes playfully. Piper was turning out just like her mum. He smiled, and took a step closer to the two girls wearing similar dresses. Piper's was a black dress which was completely sleeveless. "We should go now. Annabeth's kind of starting to freak out really badly."

And when they left the changing room area, Jason, Travis, and Grover came up to him, patting him on the back. "Great job, Nico. Our baby brother's all grown up now. Rachel's a great girl. A bit feisty, but great nonetheless," Jason said.

"W-what, how did you guys even find out?"

Travis winked, and he smirked at Nico playfully. "We have our sources. Besides, you and Rachel being a couple has always been a given. It was just a matter of time as to when it would happen." He shrugged his shoulders.

Nico groaned softly, and hoped that no one else would find out anymore. Especially Annabeth and Percy. Otherwise shit would seriously go down, and Nico would never be able to hear the end of it from them.

* * *

**A/N: hey guys, sorry for not updating this for such a long time. I just thought I should just try and finish this story since I already have it planned out and all. But I've been busy these past six months with school, and I've only been updating my kurobasu fics ;_; im sorry **

**but anyway I hoped you enjoyed this chapter**

**reviews would be nice yay **


	13. Chapter 13

**Title:** Stuck In Her Nightmares

**Chapter:** 13 (approx. 2588 words)

**Rating:** K

**Characters/Pairings:** Nico di Angelo, Rachel Elizabeth Dare | Nico/Rachel

**Summary:** Rachel's worst nightmares come true, and it is up to Nico to save her. Will true love conquer all, or will Rachel die in the hands of evil?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Percy Jackson whoops

**Author's Notes:** I might as well finish this soon :-( more detailed author's notes at the bottom

* * *

Nico was more than thankful for the end of the hustle and bustle during the past few weeks as he stood in the middle of a crowd of half-bloods during Percy and Annabeth's wedding reception. He had been dragged around by Annabeth (and sometimes Rachel) to help them pick things, most of the time just being their errand boy, and carrying their enormous numbers of paper bags while they continued shopping.

He stood there watching everyone mingle with one and another, and drank some champagne that was provided by waiters walking around the area. A few minutes later Rachel appeared in front of him. "Hey Dead Boy, it's time to make our way there. Annabeth will be coming out soon. And you have your speech to prepare for, best man." She adjusted his tie, which was mildly lopsided, and put her hands on hi broad shoulders. "You are going to be great."

Nico smiled, and resisted the urge to kiss her some more. He could never be able to get enough of Rachel ever since they started dating. He goes closer to her ear, and whispers, "Thanks, babe. I love you."

Before they can leave, though, Apollo, wearing a pair of shades and a grey tuxedo, appeared in front of them. "So… I heard you two are dating."

Nico had been dreading this moment for so long. And it was finally here. It was only a matter of time when Apollo would confront them, but Nico had been expecting him to confront them privately, instead of in an area where everyone could see them. Nico mustered up some courage (really, where was his monster-fighting courage when he needed it?) and spoke up, "Look, uh, Lord Apollo, we won't cross the virginal line, or whatever. We swear."

Rachel piped up. "Yeah, Apollo, we won't do anything other than holding hands and kissing. You'll let us be together if we don't get too far, right?" She pouted a little at Apollo and gave her best puppy dog face to try and convince him, and Nico could tell Apollo was trying to resist from giving in too fast, but even Apollo couldn't resist Rachel's please-give-me-what-i-want look and he eventually gave in.

"All right, I'll let you guys be together, but you have to remember not to cross the lines, otherwise the other gods will start nagging me about it. And naggy gods are _really_ annoying. Don't tell Zeus I said that."

Rachel rolled her eyes, and kissed Apollo on the cheek. "Thanks Apollo! I love you. Nico and I need to go now. We're late, whoops. Annabeth will kill us; now go have a seat somewhere, see you later!"

§

After the ceremonies were finally over (Percy and Annabeth's 'I do's and then their kisses were cheesy as hell and Nico isn't sure if he wanted to go through it in the future, not even if it's with Rachel) Nico stood in a corner of the room where the reception party was held, drinking (yet another) glass of champagne. He jumped when he felt a vibration in his pocket, and he found a text from Rachel.

- From: Rachel -

_Hey Dead Boy meet me out back. Turn left at the first turn you see when you leave the room. _

Nico immediately put his glass of champagne down, and felt the familiar pull of the shadows. In a second he appeared in front of Rachel, and she jumped, yelped, and clapped her hand to her chest. "Gods damn it, Nico! You scared me!" Nico chuckled, and snaked his arm around Rachel's waist, making Rachel squirm when he started to tickle her.

His smile faded, and his face became serious. He started looking at Rachel, and it frankly made Rachel very very nervous. His intense dark gaze tended to make Rachel blush really furiously; he never could really look him in the eye for very long even after years of being his best friend. He put his other arm at the back of Rachel's head, and pulled her in for a long, hard kiss. Rachel responded immediately, and she kissed back hungrily, letting out a small moan which only made Nico kiss her even harder. Nico was so involved in the kiss that it felt like the world only consisted of him and Rachel, and oh gods, that was the most cheesy line he had ever thought of; he really felt like slapping-

"Oh my gods! Rach, is that you?"

"Nico?! What are you doing kissing Rachel?"

And cue Annabeth and Percy; leave it up to them to be able to intrude on the only moment they got to themselves all afternoon and evening. Rachel and Nico immediately jumped apart, and Annabeth immediately started babbling. "What in the Hades, guys, how could you not tell us you were dating? When did this happen? How did Nico confess? Or did _you_ confess? You have to tell me everything! Oh my gods, I've been waiting so long for this moment to come!"

Nico groaned. Great, this was precisely the reason why he didn't exactly want Percy and Annabeth to know about his relationship with Rachel yet. He knew this would happen, and now Annabeth would want them to go on double dates, and have dinner together and hang out together, and all those other bonding activities Annabeth loved so much.

Apparently Percy was thinking the same things. He moved next to Nico, and mumbled, "Annabeth is so going to make us go on double dates."

Nico chuckled. "Yeah, we are going to have _soooo_ much fun watching _Titanic_ together." Percy smirked, and put his fist out, which Nico put his own to.

And as Annabeth was busy squealing about how Nico and Rachel should get married soon too a loud crash seemed to come from the reception party room. The four of them spun around, and almost immediately started to run towards the direction of the crash. Nico and Percy had their weapon out already, and Annabeth was tearing the bottom of her wedding dress off as she ran, before unsheathing her dagger from a band around her ankle.

The moment they entered the room, all they saw were 3 bulls, which were twice the size of normal bulls, and they were all red in colour. Nico and Percy looked confusedly at Annabeth, silently asking her through eye contact what exactly these things were, and she replied calmly, "These are Tauroi Aithiopikoi, Ethiopian Bulls. Normal steel and iron cannot penetrate their hide, but," she glanced at Percy's and Nico's swords, "celestial bronze and stygian iron are definitely able to. Only that they are incredibly quick, and they normally come as a package with someone else."

"Who?" Nico and Percy asked simultaneously.

"Speak of the devil, there she is. Melinoe, Goddess of fear. She strikes fear into people's hearts. She's from the Underworld, Nico, so you have to take her on yourself. Percy and I will handle the Bulls." Nico saw a woman coming up from the ground, and half of her limbs were pitch black while the other half was pure white. He shuddered, remembering that he saw her somewhere in the prisons of the Underworld before.

He turned to Rachel, after taking in the sight before him. The other demigods were busily trying to get all the mortal guests out, and Nico couldn't fathom what in Hades the Mist made the mortals see, but he couldn't care less at this point. He grabbed Rachel by the shoulders, and told her, "Rach, get to safety."

"No! I want to help! I'm perfectly capable of helping you guys!"

"It's too chaotic here, Rachel, I don't want you getting hurt. Apollo will murder me if that happens."

"Speaking of which, where are the gods?"

"I don't know, and I frankly couldn't care less right now. Those bastards. Anyway, if you want to help, then at least help the rest of the demigods get the mortals out of here right now. I can't talk; I've got to go now."

Rachel pouted for a while, before giving Nico a quick peck on the lips. "All right, fine. Be careful, okay? I don't want my boyfriend getting hurt."

Nico nodded as Rachel turned to run away toward the crowd of people trying to run out of the room, and he turned around, facing the demon. The demon was currently floating one of the mortals, and she was cackling maniacally as the person whimpered and squirmed on the floor in fear.

Nico ran towards Melinoe, and he swung his sword around his hand, shouting out at the same time, "Hey, lady, want to prey on someone better instead?"

Melinoe turned around, and the moment her eyes caught sight of Nico, her maniacal grin grew even wider. She licked her lips, and said, "Oh, a child of the Underworld, are you? Delicious. Children of the Underworld are the best prey out there to feed on. Striking fear into those fearless hearts, my favourite pastime of all."

Nico smirked, and he ran towards the demon, which swiftly moved out of the way. She waved one of her hands, and a red bull came charging towards Nico. Nico couldn't react fast enough in time, and the bull charged him into the nearest wall. He felt a sharp pain in his stomach, and had to wrestle the bull away from him. Even for a demigod he had to use all his might and strength to even push the damn thing away an inch. He tightened his grip on his stygian iron sword, and swung it at one of the bull's legs. The bull flinched in pain and backed off, screaming in pain. Nico got off, wincing at the pain in his stomach, and stabbed his sword into the bull's heart. The bull's essence was visibly being absorbed into Nico's sword; Nico could feel that slight increase of strength in his sword.

The bull disintegrated, but as Nico turned around, he was slammed into the wall once again, this time with a hand around his throat. Choking, he clawed at the black hand that was clenched around his throat. "I'm supposed to be catching that Oracle girl, but I never expected a child of the Underworld to be present. Perhaps I'll feed on you first before getting her later."

Nico's eyes widened, and he clawed even more desperately at Melinoe's hand. He wouldn't allow her to get to Rachel. But he couldn't breathe. His sword wasn't near him either, and he was at his wit's end. Hey, he was a son of Hades, not Athena, thinking was his forte.

Percy and Annabeth were also busy fighting their respective bulls which didn't seem to stop regenerating, probably due to the fact that celestial bronze only dispelled their essences, instead of absorbing them. He desperately clawed at Melinoe's hand as it became harder and harder to breathe. God damn it he just really needed someone's help right now-

Suddenly Melinoe screamed in pain, and let go of her grip on Nico's neck. Nico slid down to the floor and caught his breath with tears in his eyes, trying to take a look at who had saved him. A flash of ginger hair caught his eye, and his eyes widened. Rachel. She must have stabbed the dagger she always carried with her into Melinoe's back. Melinoe's eyes shone with rage, and she snarled, trying to grab Rachel. Rachel, being agile enough, managed to dodge most of the attacks, but Nico could tell she was getting slower and slower, as Melinoe managed to get in some scratches here and there.

Nico coughed a little more, and staggered over to where his stygian iron sword lay glistening, and picked it up. He ran after Melinoe and Rachel, who were already at the other end of the room, and clapping his hand over the wound in his stomach, he reached them as Melinoe just had Rachel in a stranglehold. He mustered the last bit of strength he had (what was that pain in his stomach, is it some poison? He could feel himself losing his strength to even stand up properly.), and he cut Melinoe's hand off, releasing its hold on Rachel's throat, before stabbing it into the demon's heart. All he heard was a cry of indignation and pain coming from Melinoe before he collapsed into a heap and fainted.

§

Nico's eyes fluttered open slowly, and the first thing he saw was a pale face with red hair which popped into view. He groaned a little, and another hand stuffed something into his mouth. He recognised the taste as ambrosia, and then after he finished chewing the ambrosia he was given a small cup of nectar to wash it down.

Rachel helped him sit up, and he could feel a dull pain in his stomach, before she asked, "Do you feel all right?"

Nico winced as he tried to move a little. "I'll live. I've been in worse situations."

"Annabeth said that the bull's horn pierced through the front part of the stomach area, and it had poison and the poison spread through your body, but for some reason you didn't get affected as much as other demigods normally would, probably because you are Hades' son, and the bulls are from the Underworld as well, therefore you have more resistance, so to speak."

Nico was about to reply, when Percy and Annabeth walked in. "Ah, you're awake," Percy said.

"Have you had your dose of ambrosia and nectar yet?"

Nico nodded. Annabeth smiled. "Good, you're healing fast. You should be up and running in no time," she glanced between Rachel and Nico. "We'll leave you two to talk."

She put down the food she was holding on the table beside the bed, and she took Percy's hand before walking out of the room and shutting the door behind them. Nico turned to look at Rachel. "When did we get back here? What happened to the reception?"

"Oh, uh, the other demigods helped to clean up, while Percy, Annabeth and I brought you back to the apartment," Rachel looked down, and took Nico's hand, slipping her fingers in between his. "Thanks for saving me back there."

"No, I should be thanking you. I was on the verge of meeting my dad without it being all about business," Nico chuckled slightly. "And you saved me, while risking your life. Look, I don't ever want you to do that again, okay? I would never be able to live with myself if something happened to you."

Rachel pursed her lips. "That depends on the situation, Dead Boy. Most of the time I swear you are the one who needs saving."

Nico grinned, and shrugged. "Hey, all part of being a demigod. Being impulsive is our specialty." Rachel only mumbled a small 'tch' and Nico pulled her down for a kiss.

Rachel blushed, and quickly walked out of the room. "I'll prepare the food for you. You must be hungry." Nico nodded, and lay back and relaxed on the bedframe.

His stomach was growling, but all he could think about was the fact that Melinoe had been sent to capture Rachel. But why? Rachel might be the Oracle, but what terrors of the Underworld would have something to do with her? Nico frowned, and these troubled thoughts nagged at him all the way until night, when Rachel forced him to sleep, partly so that she could snuggle up to him after the exhausting day.

* * *

**A/N: I totally swear the more important shit will happen next chapter most likely the last filler chapter like ever also the Ethiopian bulls and Melinoe are real monsters and demons in greek mythology, but them coming together as a package and the bulls attacking humans are purely headcanon so yeah **

**Also the reason why I didn't update much during the summer is because in addition to a pile of summer homework I have like 3 summer projects and enough of a life to go out sometimes so yeah I just wanted to clarify things for that guest that reviewed yesterday gomen **

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter; and I might actually try and finish the story by next week because I only have about 2-3 chapters left in my plan **


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